YouTube has risen in popularity to become one of the premier video sites on the Internet. Users upload and share their own videos. They can also post comments on the individual videos. However, the site still does not have a specific comment search feature for individual users. This makes it difficult to track comments. However, a user can do his own comment search by understanding the other features of the site and how to use them to hunt down personal comments.
Sign up for a free YouTube account. Users who want to post comments must have an account. Getting an account also provides additional features that allow for searching of comments. Go to YouTube.com and click the Create Account link at the top of the page.
- YouTube has risen in popularity to become one of the premier video sites on the Internet.
- Getting an account also provides additional features that allow for searching of comments.
Search recent YouTube comments with the Comment Search. Enter the username and click "Search comments." This is the one current YouTube feature that does allow direct username searches to find comments. However, only recent comments in the past few hours come back in the search. Use this on the same day of posting a comment before it exceeds the search result time limit.
- Search recent YouTube comments with the Comment Search.
- This is the one current YouTube feature that does allow direct username searches to find comments.
Use the Favorites section to find comments on videos that the user marked as favourites. Log in with the "Sign In" link at the top and scroll over the username at the top of the page. Click on Favorites in the menu that drops down. This section links to the user's "favorited" videos, but the user must then click on each video and search through the comments to find his own comments. This section does not show all the viewing history of the user. However, the videos may contain many of the comments searched for because this lists the user's favourite videos.
Use the History section for a more thorough search. Log in with the "Sign In" link at the top. Click "History" at the top or scroll over the username at the top and click "Account." The Account section has a comprehensive list of features. Click "History" and visit each video to find comments.
Use the Video Comments feature in the Account section to find personal comments that have received a reply. Click on the list of replies and the video link in each reply to see the videos. Search the comments for the user's username to find comments. This is also a limited feature but shows some of the more active conversations involving the personal user.
- Use the History section for a more thorough search.
- Use the Video Comments feature in the Account section to find personal comments that have received a reply.
TIP
Consider writing down the website address of all videos visited. Even the History search does not cover all viewing history, so searching the oldest comments may require a separate record of visited videos.
WARNING
Do not expect comment searches to return all comments. Users who uploaded a video can deactivate all comments. Even previously posted comments disappear.