Back in April, Google announced it was testing a new feature called “timed comments” on some videos with a small group of people. What exactly are “timed comments?” Essentially, it’s a way to leave a comment at a certain point and time on a video to share your reaction to only that part.
Testing new timed comments: We’re currently testing a new feature that allows you to view comments timed to the exact moment you’re watching in a video. This experiment is available on some videos to a small group of people and we’ll consider rolling this out more broadly based on feedback. To see if you’re part of the experiment, go to the comments section on iOS or Android, and tap the Sort button to select “Timed Beta”.
If you’re familiar with Soundcloud then you’ve probably already seen this in action before. The way it works on the Android app is different though. While watching the video you can enable the timed comment view, and during playback you’ll see the stream of comments load up each time you near a new timed comment.
Whether or not this enhances the YouTube experience is left to be determined. If you’ve ever browsed the comments section, then you know it’s not always filled with useful or entertaining content. At the same time, being able to share your reaction to your favorite part of a video is a promising prospect.
Since the test is only rolling out to some videos and to select users, it can be difficult to tell if you even have access to “timed comments.” However, Android Police spotted a Transformers figure review video with “timed comments” enabled to test out if you’re one of the lucky few.
I gave it a shot myself and found that it was active on one of my Google accounts but not the other. If you want to find out for yourself, then click on the link to the video above in the Android app, open the comments section, and tap on the sort button to see if you have the “Timed” option.
