YouTube’s new Discord-like Communities are rolling out to more creators

YouTube is expanding the availability of its dedicated community space feature to more creators on the site, giving them more opportunities to connect with their fans without needing to lean on another platform like Discord.

Only available for access via mobile devices, Communities first launched during the Made for YouTube event last fall, letting the creators write posts with images and text while also enabling fans to start discussions. “We’ve been testing Communities with a small group of creators and have heard positive feedback, which is why we’re excited to keep expanding access, says today’s post from YouTube. Creators can monitor and moderate via a Community Hub in the YouTube Studio app that combines the activity from their channel, and can also offer suggestions for replies to fans.

YouTube is also renaming its previously existing Community tab to Posts to try to keep things clear between the two things:

The tab will work just as it does today, just with a new name. Creators can still share updates and announcements via posts and viewers can engage by commenting on those posts like they always have!

Creators will still need an invitation to access Communities, which will come in an email and as a banner on their channel pages on the YouTube app. Once received, creators will be invited to “Go to Community” to learn more and then allow them to enable the features.