Thumbs Up If You

About

“Thumbs up if/for ______” are popular formats of Youtube comments made by people who attempt to get other users to give a “thumbs up” to their comment.

“Thumbs up if _____” is usually used in the form, Thumbs up if You _____, where if you agree with their statement, you are supposed to upvote their post.

- “Thumbs up if you think this is the best video ever”
- “Thumbs up if RWJ sent you here”

On the other hand, “Thumbs up for” is usually used to promote the subject matter in the video or the creator of the video.

- “Thumbs up for Starcraft”
- “Thumbs up for Nigahiga”

These comments are typically included in the “Highest Rated Comments” section of their respective videos.

Source: YouTube Layout Changes

On August 23, 2007, Youtube revised its comments section by allowing users to “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” comments, in a manner similar to Digg.

On March 25, 2010, Youtube started experimenting with a new Highest Rated Comments section on Youtube, featuring the comments with the most “Thumbs up” ratings.

These would provide an incentive for others to make comments that would stay in the “Highest rated comments” section. “Thumbs up if ______” is the result of these layout changes. Other people also post “Thumbs up if” for the sake of trolling, while some use it to take a survey of the viewers.

“Thumbs up if” Variants

Although the “X” in “Thumbs up if X” leads to countless variations, some forms of “thumbs up if” occur more often than others.

Thumbs up if you agree

A simple appeal for the viewer to give a “thumbs up” if they agree with what the comment says.

Thumbs up if X sent you here

This comment appeals to the people who follow certain individuals and websites. If people view a certain video because said video was referenced by the individual or website, this comment is usually an effective way of getting upvotes.

Thumbs up if you were the nth viewer

These comments poke fun at the fact that Youtube doesn’t update the viewcount of their videos in realtime. Therefore, people may think Youtube shows multiple people all as the “nth viewer.”

Popularity

The following information is current as of September 26, 2010:

Google Search

On YouTube itself, there are over 2.9 million results for thumbs up if and over 1.2 million for thumbs up for comments.

Youtube Comment Search

According to YouTube comment search, thumbs up if
and thumbs up for comments occur every few minutes.

The variants, Thumbs up if you agree and Thumbs up if X sent you here occur every several minutes or so.

Thumbs up if you were the nth viewer occurs a few times a day currently, but used to be very popular.

Other

On September 9, 2010, “thumbs up if” was mentioned by Urlesque as some of the Youtube comments that are proof that humanity is doomed.