YouTube’s name styling in italics comes from an interesting blend of branding history and typographical conventions.
The Official YouTube Brand Guidelines
While you’ll often see YouTube written in italics, this actually isn’t part of the official brand guidelines. YouTube’s parent company, Google, specifies that the platform’s name should be written as “YouTube” – with a capital Y and T, no space, and no special formatting. However, many publications choose to italicize it anyway, following their own style guides.
Why Publications Use Italics
Publications often italicize YouTube’s name because it falls into two traditional categories where italics are commonly used:
1. Names of major platforms or services
2. Branded products or services
Think of how we typically italicize the names of newspapers (The New York Times), magazines (Time), or television networks (CNN). YouTube, as a major media platform, often gets grouped into this same category by editors and writers.
The Evolution of Digital Platform Styling
The way we format digital platform names has evolved alongside our relationship with technology. In the early days of the internet, new platform names were often treated as proper nouns requiring special formatting. While some style guides have moved away from this practice, others maintain it as a way to distinguish between the platform name and regular text.
Style Guide Variations
Different style guides handle YouTube’s formatting differently:
– AP Style: No italics
– Chicago Manual of Style: Optional italics
– Many tech publications: Regular text
– Traditional media outlets: Often italicized
Think of it like how we handle movie titles versus company names. While we italicize “Star Wars” when referring to the film, we don’t italicize “Disney” when mentioning the company. YouTube sits in an interesting middle ground – it’s both a platform and a brand name.
The Practical Approach
For most everyday writing, you don’t need to italicize YouTube. The name is recognizable enough to stand on its own without special formatting. However, if you’re writing for a publication, check their style guide – some may require italics for consistency with how they handle other digital platform names.
Remember, the most important thing is maintaining consistency within your own writing. Whether you choose to italicize YouTube or not, stick with your choice throughout your document.
