'What does a highlighted comment mean on YouTube?': What you need to know about the feature that helps you navigate YouTube's comment section

Neither users nor creators choose to highlight comments, and it is not good or bad when this happens the feature is just meant to help you navigate comments that might be of interest to you.
Here's what you need to know about highlighted comments on YouTube .
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On YouTube , highlighted comments serve many purposes. At a basic level, however, they are there to grab your attention so you can interact with the comment.

And, for clarification, only you can see them they are not public. Here's a more detailed breakdown of what highlighted comments mean on the platform:

What a highlighted comment means on YouTube

When you see the words "Highlighted Comment" appear above a comment next to someone's username, it can mean several things.

For example, if someone replies to your comment on a video, you may get a notification. When you click through to the page, you'll see that comment with the "Highlighted Comment" tag, thereby making it easier for you to find.

The same goes if it's your video and someone posts a comment when you click on the notification, the comment will become a highlighted comment at the top of the section so you can more easily reply to it.

When you click on a comment's timestamp, whether it's your video or not, it also highlights that comment, making it appear at the top of the comments section, even above a pinned comment.

1 WHAT DOES HIGHLIGHTED COMMENT MEAN YOUTUBE Devon Delfino/Business Insider

Keep in mind that when you do that, the video will reload and the person who created that comment will get a message back that says, "Highlighted Reply."

Ultimately, highlighted comments are a somewhat automated feature of YouTube that are meant to make your experience on the platform easier in terms of navigation.

They are neither good nor bad, and do not arise because a person chose to make your comment more visible on a particular video.

And whether you're a user or creator, highlighted comments can be helpful when you interact with or make videos, especially when those videos have hundreds or thousands of comments, which would otherwise be nearly impossible to filter through.