Mark Pack

Without any fanfare, YouTube has quietly added real time search of its comments via www.youtube.com/comment_search.

So far the page is pretty limited: no advance search options other than language, fairly minimal information available in the search results listing, no feed available of your search results and so on.

On the up side, it allows you to search comments and the page gives you an "X comments new found" message as they come in after your first search.

Google's record at updating services is very mixed. Some, such as Gmail, have acquired a raft of advanced features as they've been developed over time. Others, such as Google Alerts, have never moved on much from their original incarnation.

Google Alerts was, though, right from the start powerful and useful. However, in its current form the YouTube comments search is a bit of a curiosity with only the occasional benefit. If developed - and in particular integrated with video search so you get a one-stop shop for YouTube search results - it could become much more than that.

Hat-tip: Anthony D'Alton of www.social360.co.uk