[dangus]

Interestingly, this feature is only two years old.

Can you think of another major social networking service without Direct Messaging of some kind?

Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, LinkedIn, Flickr, Snapchat, Tumblr, Pintrest, and the list goes on, they all have DM functionality.

That sort of choice is disappointing because it's always nice to be able to contact content creators. Without direct messaging it's more like cable television where you're just there to watch and feedback isn't welcome.

Perhaps that's the idea here - YouTube will be the cable television of the Internet era. Obscure channels aren't recommended by the algorithm and the channels YouTube deems most profitable will be suggested.

[supermdguy]

Spotify used to have a direct message feature, but discontinued it.

[ashtonbaker]

I really dislike the absence of DMs on Spotify. It makes the whole social aspect of Spotify seem so lacking, while music is an inherently social thing for me. I would love to use Spotify chat to work on playlists, chat about albums, etc.

[pfranz]

I don't use Spotify, and maybe I'm just old, but I hate every platform having their own way to communicate. Especially when I want to look up something later I have to search in 4 different places and hope their search isn't terrible. There was one short period of time where Gaim/Pidgin/Adium worked.

I understand the benefits, but I feel like the main reason these are viable is because email was ruined.

[sjm]

Agreed, and outside of the pure messaging aspect, it was a great way to quickly share music in the same place you were going to listen to it.