YouTube Stories, a feature that works a lot like Snapchat, is shutting down in June amid the popularity of its TikTok-like feature, Shorts.
The Google-owned video-sharing service is killing its Stories feature, preventing users from sharing posts, which expire after seven days.
YouTube Stories Bids Farewell
According to The Verge, Stories made its way to YouTube in 2017. In case you missed it, it was initially called Reels and was only available to users, flaunting more than 10,000 subscribers. It works similarly to how Snapchat Stories does it. When a user posts a story, it vanishes into thin air after a while.
For Snapchat, as well as Instagram and Facebook, Stories disappear after 24 hours or merely a day. But Google wanted to set itself apart, so YouTube Stories lasted a little bit longer, giving viewers at least seven days before it vanished. Not to mention that users could also leave comments.
While IG's iteration remains popular, the same could not be said for YouTube's counterpart. The Verge notes that only a few creators on the Google-owned service spend time posting Stories regularly. On top of that, the platform barely promotes it these days. And notably, the option is only available on its mobile app.
As YouTube evolves and expands, it seems the Stories format could not keep up with the rapidly changing times. And as such, it announced in a support article that it is officially killing the feature on June 26.
The YouTube Product Communications, Meaghan Sullivan, says, "The option to create a new YouTube Story will no longer be available" starting June 26.
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YouTube Shorts vs. Stories
Despite Stories' departure, Sullivan notes that other features like the TikTok-like option, Shorts, and Community posts "are great alternatives that can deliver valuable audience connections and conversations.
While Stories lets users post videos, which disappear over time, Shorts is a TikTok clone. Users may share bite-sized clips, which are addictive to doomscroll, Ars Technica points out.
According to Gizmodo, Shorts successfully gained traction from YouTube viewers and creators. The Google-owned firm says it has amassed a whopping 1.5 billion monthly views, as of June 2022.
It is worth noting that YouTube released its Shorts feature last July 2021 amid the growing popularity of the Chinese video-sharing service TikTok. So in one year, the feature garnered more than a billion monthly views.
Meanwhile, Meta's social networks, Instagram and Facebook, offer their own TikTok clone, Reels.
On the other hand, the YouTube Community post is a feature wherein posts vanish depending on the set time. Aside from texts, it also provides polls and quizzes, allowing users to post videos and photos as well.
With the death of Stories, YouTube is now urging its users to turn to Shorts and Community posts instead.
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