Jun 05, 2024 [[read-time]] minute read
Engineers and strategists aren’t the only people behind the scenes of how features and tools come to life at YouTube. In fact, creators play a crucial role in shaping the platform — they provide feedback, make suggestions and, in the case of our Creators in Residence, directly collaborate with teams across the company.
Launched back in 2016, the Creators in Residence program (CiR) regularly brings together diverse groups of creators to share their experiences and feedback with our teams. Some iterations of the program are more general, while some are product or community specific — like the LGBTQ+ CiR which this year brought together a cohort of trans and non binary creators to share their perspectives on current and future YouTube products.
Based on the work we’ve done, it became clear to me how much urgency there is around the needs of trans and non-binary creators, especially when it comes to their safety on the platform and their ability to build community.
Jazza John
User experience researcher, YouTube
Jazza John, the project’s lead researcher who is both non binary and a former creator themself, understands many of the residents’ concerns first hand.
“I’ve been showing off on the internet in some shape or form since 2007, so YouTube has been intimately intertwined through most of my adult life. I was a full time creator for a couple years. YouTube was the basis of my master’s thesis. It’s what helped me come to terms with my identity,” says Jazza. “Now I get to give back to creators as a researcher. And based on the work we’ve done, it became clear to me how much urgency there is around the needs of trans and non-binary creators, especially when it comes to their safety on the platform and their ability to build community.”
Cohorts are intentionally small, comprised of six to eight residents. Creators receive a monetary reward to share ongoing, in-depth feedback and insights with these teams based on their first-hand experience. They test out early features, speak on panels and participate in biweekly focus sessions on topics ranging from UX changes to product launches, business strategy and beyond.
“The level of access our residents get is really unprecedented,” says Jazza. “And yes, some of our creators are in the millions of subscribers, but some have closer to 10K and they’re each bringing exciting stuff to the table based on where they are in their careers. They’ve been able to meet with chief decision makers at the company and influence pretty important decisions.”
Want a behind-the-scenes look at the creators working behind-the-scenes with YouTube? Here’s what creators Luxeria and Devon Spears had to say about their time as residents.
“I feel like a lot of people make the assumption that everyone in an lgbtq+ group must share the same opinions, but a lot of us don’t. The cool part is getting those diverse perspectives instead of just agreeing on everything.”
Devon's channel focuses on nutrition and fitness advice, specifically for trans masc people.
(he/him)
Why did you first choose to participate in the program?
I'm a smaller creator, so when Jazza reached out to me, I was just kind of like me for real, seriously, really? They said they wanted to hear what I have to say, so I decided if YouTube was willing to listen, I’ll share. Going into the program, I didn’t have any giant aspirations because I guess I didn’t realize that YouTube cared about creators to that degree. But being immersed, speaking to people and seeing how much they do care has been pretty cool.
A good portion of the program is dedicated to focus sessions. How did those conversations typically play out?
On an every other week basis, the leads would set agendas with things YouTube may potentially roll out and they’d ask us questions. What do you think about this? How does this impact the community that you are a part of?
I feel like a lot of people make the assumption that everyone in an LGBTQ+ group must share the same opinions, but a lot of us don’t. A lot of times we’ll be going over a specific topic and while I may be cool with something, somebody else may think it’s harmful. The cool part is getting those diverse perspectives instead of just agreeing on everything.
What was it like meeting up with your cohort?
Meeting everybody in person at the YouTube HQ was validating for me because like I said, I’m a smaller channel, and at a certain point it can feel like I’m just screaming into the void. Being around other larger creators and knowing that what I’m doing is just as valid adds fuel to my fire. I don’t need a million subscribers for me to have an impact. The program has been a pretty mind opening experience and I’ve already used a lot of the tools we talked about in the program like comment moderation.
“I wanted to have other conversations and it was really nice being able to explain a nuanced experience with other queer and lgbtq+ creators as well as people at YouTube.”
Luxeria creates commentary content relating to beauty, science and reality tv.
(she/her)
What were your expectations like going into the program?
I exist in a very cis hetero normative world most of the time, so I was worried we were gonna be asked very baseline questions - ‘How did you come out? How do you feel about that?’ I wanted to have other conversations and it was really nice being able to explain a nuanced experience with other queer and LGBTQ+ creators as well as people at YouTube. Once you're in a group like that, there's lots of things you don't have to say.
What product or feature did you enjoy working on most?
We had an ongoing conversation with a team at YouTube about how we would choose to display pronouns that I think were quite important. The cohort started with the idea of inputting custom ones, but then as the conversation went on, we realized people would be able to input things to target specific groups or for shock factor. We decided on a preset selection. It was really important to make it a global thing that could be updated as time goes on, considering neo pronouns and languages other than English. I only go by she/her, but I was really present for those meetings because I do have non-binary friends who don’t use typical pronouns.
How would you describe the overall experience?
People often ask me why I love doing YouTube, and I tell them that it’s actually very community-driven. YouTube does look after its creators, even though sometimes I think people feel a little bit like put out by the algorithm.
That’s what I loved about the Creator in Residence program. There were people at different levels — some bigger than me in terms of scope and views, some smaller but more engaged with their audience. I was happy to see a couple of familiar faces from my community as a trans person. As much as it was an opportunity to work for YouTube, it was also an opportunity to socialize with people I wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to. We have this community bond, but we’re all at different levels with different schedules all over the world. Every other Thursday we would meet and have wonderful discussions while being able to give critical feedback, and get access to upcoming exclusive features which I've now personally used often and really benefit from on my personal channel. It was a lovely experience and a community driven effort that kind of brought me back to what YouTube was like for me in the beginning.