A request of a channel owner is received to enable an online community option to facilitate communications between the channel owner and viewers of a channel of the channel owner on a content sharing platform. The online community option is associated with the channel in a data store, and a channel GUI comprising a GUI element representing the online community option is provided for presentation to the channel owner. An online community GUI is provided to allow the channel owner to submit a post to initiate online conversation with viewers of the channel. The channel GUI is provided for presentation to a viewer of the channel. In response to a selection of the GUI element representing the online community option, the online community GUI comprising the post of the channel owner is provided, and the viewer of the channel is allowed to respond to the post.