It has been a while since YouTube has made any major changes to its frontend layout and so it is no surprise they are testing it now.
Those of us who have been long time YouTubers know they like to shake things up every couple of years by giving their frontend a makeover and we just kind of expect it.
While they make changes in the backend all the time, it doesn’t seem to get the reaction as when the front end changes. Could be that people don’t really understand the analytics, so they just don’t care when those are changed. I however find those changes far more exciting than I do the ones on the front.
I know people will freak out with any change, so I did a side by side comparison of the old and new layout, so no one will feel the need to be shocked when they see a change.
Yes, I am trying to alleviate their stress of “OMG, the buttons moved. I can’t believe YouTube did this, they are gonna die now. I’m never coming back because they moved that button.”
That may be a slight exaggeration, but I am not placing bets against this reaction. Just taking the changes and making it work, doesn’t fit some people’s personality. And they say old people are set in their ways, yet it is the young people who will freak.
Anyway, here is the video with the changes I am seeing as of the time of the video. As I mention, these may or may not be set in stone…YouTube is fickle ya know.
With Facebook, Instagram and Twitter coming up in the video world, YouTube has to keep its edge and so I think we will see lots of changes in the very near future.
I will say that as far as search and analytics, none of the other sites can beat YouTube!