Recently Youtube changed their design preferences, something they have been discussing since mid 2011.

The Cosmic Panda update was to give Youtube a better look and feel but I personally feel it was also a way for them to head towards keeping videos more optimized and a way to stop users trying to exploit the search engine algorithm.

I personally feel that videos will no longer be able to be easily manipulated in order to gain rankings over competitors. I think the algorithm is heading more towards the same direction as it has with the Google algorithm and the latest Google Panda, the way social media tweaks and longer established videos will obtain higher trust.

I see where they are going with the new share of Google Plus and Facebook integrated into Youtube, which can essetially mean more ways to get backlinks to and from those social networking platforms.

Here is a demo of how it works.

Overall the design and layout preferences are much better and cleaner, and seem very quick. I like what they have done with it, over to you, what are your thoughts?