You might have seen a comment on YouTube labeled as a "Highlighted comment". What does a highlighted comment mean, and why does it happen? It turns out that this feature is very misunderstood, and it's probably not at all what you might think.
Here's what you should know about YouTube's highlighted comments feature.
What Does a Highlighted Comment Look Like?
First, let’s clarify what we’re talking about. In the comments section below a YouTube video, you may see a comment labeled as Highlighted comment. The label appears in light gray, above the commenter’s name.
YouTube can also highlight comment replies, with slightly different wording: Highlighted reply.
YouTube has been improving its commenting, including reminding YouTube users to be respectful. Highlighted comments are yet another small improvement.
But What Does a Highlighted Comment Mean?
This is a misunderstood feature, and it’s a lot less exciting than it sounds! It’s best to begin by dismissing some of the most common misunderstandings. Highlighted comments are not a show of approval by the video creator, nor are they voted on by other users.
Highlighted comments are little more than a bookmarking feature. Take a look at two URLs:
- youtube.com/watch?v=kf1hv40kTUY
- youtube.com/watch?v=kf1hv40kTUY&lc=Ugx4KSYkdZbmCwpOdpt4AaABAg
Although they look different, both URLs show the same video. But one displays a highlighted comment and one doesn’t. What’s going on?
If you know how to read a URL, you might recognize there’s an extra parameter in the second example. Its name is lc, possibly standing for "linked comment". Its value uniquely identifies one of the comments below the video—that’s the highlighted comment.
When a YouTube page includes such a parameter, it pulls up that specific comment to the top of the comments list. It also adds the Highlighted comment label. If the comment is a reply, YouTube will elevate its parent comment to the top, with the reply shown below it.
Where Might You Come Across Highlighted Comments?
If you host a video on YouTube, you can receive notifications when a user posts a comment on it. These notifications will contain a highlighted comment link. Click this link to view the comment in context; the page will clearly highlight it so that you can spot it easily.
How to Highlight a Comment on YouTube
Bear in mind that you cannot actually highlight a comment on YouTube. What you can do is generate a URL so that, when someone visits it, they’ll see a highlighted comment. You can send such a URL to someone directly or post it on social media. If you have a website, you can add a link to it so anyone who clicks on it will see a highlighted YouTube comment.
To create a link with a highlighted comment:
- Go to a video on YouTube with comments.
- Scroll below the video to view comments and pick the one you want to highlight.
- Click the time (e.g. 3 days ago) next to the commenter’s username.
- The page will refresh, but with a different URL. This time, it will include the lc parameter.
- Select the new URL in your browser’s address bar and copy it.
You can now paste the new URL into a WhatsApp chat, a new email, or anywhere else you might want to use it.
Highlighted Comments Are a Convenience
For YouTube comments, the meaning of "highlighted" is closer to "bookmarked" than "featured". You can use a highlighted comment to identify a specific comment. They can be useful to bookmark, especially if you want to follow up on a comment later on.
You might also want to draw someone else’s attention to a comment, and sending them a URL is an excellent way of doing so.