Nothing on your channel breaks, but check whose account it lives in. Make sure at least two owners are accounts the business controls, and delete no Google+ profile or page connected to it yet.

What YouTube announced yesterday

YouTube said yesterday that a Google+ profile will no longer be needed to upload videos, comment or create a channel. The change reaches everyone over the coming weeks.

Comments are separating first. A comment left on YouTube now stays on YouTube instead of also appearing on Google+.

For nearly two years, anyone who wanted to comment or run a channel was steered into Google+. Plenty of business channels were set up in that period, usually by whoever had a free afternoon.

Nothing breaks because of the announcement. It is simply a good week to find out whose account your channel lives in.

What changes and what does not

The fifth is the one to read twice. YouTube has asked people not to remove their Google+ profile yet, because removing it today would delete the YouTube channel attached to it.

Where business channels live

A business channel sits in one of two places, and from the outside they look identical.

Some belong to a Google+ page, whose owners and managers can each run the channel with their own login.

Others sit inside one person's Google account. Someone created the channel under their own login and renamed it after the business, and only that login can manage it.

For some local businesses, the page behind the channel is also the Google+ page carrying their Google My Business listing, so whoever owns it controls both.

The channel that leaves with an employee

A channel in one person's account works until that person leaves. After that, nobody else can upload, answer a comment, correct the description or take down an out-of-date video, and the videos keep speaking for the business.

Most departures are friendly, and the person will usually help if asked soon. A year later they have a new phone, a forgotten password or a job in another city.

Nobody even has to leave. A staff member tidying up their own Google accounts after this week's news could delete the business's channel without knowing it lived there.

Delete nothing yet

YouTube's warning matters as much to businesses as to individuals. Until the promised tools arrive, removing the Google+ profile a channel depends on deletes the channel, videos and all.

Treat a Google+ page connected to a channel the same way, even if nobody has posted on Google+ for a year.

If the plan is to leave Google+ eventually, wait for YouTube's instructions, settle the channel first, and remove the profile or page last.

A worked example

An accordion repair shop in a light industrial unit restores and tunes instruments for players across the province, and films each restored accordion being played before it goes home.

The channel was started four years ago by an apprentice who shot the videos. He created it under his own Google account, connected it to his Google+ profile when YouTube asked in 2013, and renamed it after the shop.

He left last year on good terms. This spring the owner wanted to add cards linking to the booking page, and found that nobody at the shop could sign in, while players' questions sat unanswered under the most watched videos.

The fix took one evening with the former apprentice at the keyboard. The owner created a Google+ page for the shop from an account made with the shop's own email address, and added the apprentice as a manager.

From his own login, the apprentice moved the channel to that page, and every video came with it. The owner and his daughter, who keeps the books, are now its owners; the apprentice was removed a month later.

Finding out who controls yours

Sign in to YouTube with the account you believe holds the channel and open its account settings. A channel connected to a Google+ page should show a link to add or remove managers, leading to the page's owners and managers.

If there is no such link, the channel most likely lives in a single account. Find out whose it is, which email address it uses, and where its recovery details point.

Remove anyone who has left, and make sure at least two owners are accounts the business itself controls. Write the owners down wherever the business keeps its other important logins, and check that list whenever someone joins or leaves.

Moving a channel the business does not hold

A channel in one person's account can usually be moved to a Google+ page the business owns, through an option in YouTube's settings. The current owner has to sign in to do it.

Do it while that person is available and willing: add them as a manager of the business's page, have them make the move, and remove them once everything has been checked.

If they cannot be reached, the fallback is a new channel in the business's account, with the best videos uploaded again.

Comments without the Google+ step

Dropping the profile requirement lowers the barrier to commenting, so expect more comments of every kind.

Check the channel's comment settings while you are there: comments can be held for review, words blocked and regular commenters approved automatically.

Answer questions as the channel, not as a person. A question under a video is often a customer deciding whether to get in touch.

The counter-case

A channel with three old videos and no plans does not need an evening's work. Note who holds it and leave the rest for later.

Where the owner set up the channel personally and intends to stay, the risk is smaller, although a second owner still costs nothing.

Nor is this the moment to build anything new around Google+, since Google is separating its other products from it and channel management may change again.

The point is narrower: know whose account holds your channel, keep two owners the business controls, and delete nothing until YouTube's tools arrive.

This week

  1. Find the account that holds your channel.
  2. Look for the managers option in account settings.
  3. Read the list of owners and remove leavers.
  4. Add a second owner the business controls.
  5. Move a personal channel while its creator can help.
  6. Delete no Google+ profile or page yet.
  7. Review the comment settings.

Step five is the one that gets harder with every month. The person who created the channel is easiest to reach now, while the request is still a favour between people who know each other.

Sending viewers from your videos to your site is covered in YouTube cards that lead viewers to your website.

Frequently asked questions

What did YouTube announce?

That over the coming weeks a Google+ profile will no longer be needed to upload, comment or create a channel, and that YouTube comments stop appearing on Google+.

Does our business channel need changes?

Nothing breaks, and YouTube says no action is needed. It is still a good moment to check whose account holds the channel and who can manage it.

Should we delete our Google+ profile now?

No. YouTube has asked people to wait for tools promised over the coming months, because removing a profile now would also delete the channel attached to it.

How do I tell who controls our channel?

Open YouTube's account settings. If there is an option to add or remove managers, the owners are listed on the connected Google+ page; if not, a single account most likely holds it.

What if a former employee holds the channel?

Ask them soon to move it to a Google+ page the business owns, with the business's own account as an owner. The videos move with the channel.

Will more people comment on our videos?

Probably, since commenting will no longer require a Google+ profile. Hold comments for review if needed, block unwanted words, and answer questions as the channel.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Channel set up by someone who left?

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