YouTube Handles are Here to Make Finding Channels Easier

YouTube introduced handles today as an easier way to find people and the channels you most like to watch. These new handles will make it easier to engage with those creators as well, across the platform.

Think of a YouTube handle like you would an Instagram or Twitter handle. A YouTube handle uses the “@” symbol and then the channel name to let you easily recognize a channel and also mention it in comments, posts, descriptions, etc. As an example, we could have “@droidlife” as our handle, assuming YouTube lets us have it when these handles open up for reservation.

YouTube says that every channel will have a unique handle and that unlike a channel name, these are “truly unique” to a channel. So there shouldn’t be any confusion when your handle shows up somewhere, that it is indeed you.

Within the next month, YouTube will notify creators when they can choose a handle for their channel. For many, that will mean a matching handle to whatever the customized or personalized URL of their channel is.

If you are wondering when you might get to choose yours, well, you better be a big deal. Google says that “The timing of when a creator will get access to the handles selection process depends on a number of factors, including overall YouTube presence, subscriber count and whether the channel is active or inactive.” As you can imagine, bigger channels should get to choose their handle first.

Once you have a handle, you’ll be able to access your YouTube channel using it with something like youtube.com/@handle.