How to message someone on YouTube through the site's 'business inquiry' feature
- YouTube discontinued its private messaging feature in July 2018, but there are still ways to message someone on YouTube if you want to stay in touch.
- Business inquiry emails are a solid way around this issue, and provide another way to connect creators and viewers on YouTube.
- Here's what you need to know about messaging someone through business inquiry emails on YouTube.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
YouTube may have taken away the private messaging feature in 2018, but you can still enable messaging, of sorts, by setting up business inquiry emails on your channel (or taking advantage of those on someone else's channel.)
Just keep in mind that these are only visible on the desktop version of YouTube.
How to message someone on YouTube using business inquiry emails
Before you get started, remember: You'll only be able to do this if the creator of the channel has enabled this feature.
1. Go to youtube.com and sign into your account, if necessary.
2. Go to the account you want to message and toggle over to their "About" tab.
3. Click "View Email Address" - if they don't have business inquiry emails set up, you won't see that option and won't be able to send them a message - you may also have to fill out a reCAPTCHA form and click "Submit" to move onto the next step.
4. Copy the email address, then type up and send your email through your personal or business email account.
How to set up business inquiry emails on your YouTube channel
If you're a creator and want to give people another way to reach you, it may be a good idea to set up business inquiry emails. Here's how:
1. Go to your YouTube account.
2. Click your profile photo in the top-right corner and then select "Your Channel."
3. Select "Customize Channel."
4. Toggle over to your "About" tab.
5. Next to "For Business Inquiries," click "+ Email."
6. Enter your email into the text box and click "Done."
If you want to change your email address in the future, you can always go back into your account and update your information through this process.
Related coverage from How To Do Everything: Tech:
How to verify your YouTube account, so you can upload videos longer than 15 minutes and customize thumbnails
How to see a list of your YouTube subscribers on a computer or mobile device
How to create your own YouTube channel for personal use, or a Brand Account for business
How to temporarily hide or permanently delete your YouTube account, and erase any trace of yourself from the site