Snapchat’s clone, YouTube Stories, is being left in the dust as YouTube continues to invest its efforts on its TikTok clone. Within the next several weeks, YouTube’s tales feature will be deactivated permanently.
Stories to shut from 26th June!
YouTubers could submit disappearing messages through the Stories feature in a similar way that users can do on Snapchat or Instagram, with the exception that YouTube Stories allow comments and are live for 7 days rather than just 24 hours. It was an odd decision for the platform that was fixated on long form material, but once TikTok showed that short form content is superior, YouTube changed its strategy. The function will be removed from customers’ access on June 26 as part of the company’s plan to concentrate more on its YouTube Shorts clone of TikTok.
“The option to create a new YouTube Story will be removed as of 6/26/2023. Stories that are already live on that date will stop working seven days after they were first shared,” according to a blog post by Meaghan Sullivan of YouTube Product Communications. Despite the fact that Stories are being discontinued, we’ve found that YouTube Shorts and Community postings are also excellent substitutes that can generate worthwhile audience interactions and dialogues.
The Rise of YouTube Shorts
In 2018, YouTube unapologetically stole the idea for YouTube Stories from Snapchat, which popularized the format in 2013. The feature was first introduced by YouTube in November 2017 before being made available to 10,000 channels in November 2018, as The Verge reported at the time of introduction.
The launch of Stories was greeted by a range of responses from the YouTube community. Veteran creator Phillip DeFranco called them “weird” and said that the lack of swipe up and video linking features was a “missed opportunity.” While it failed to replicate the enchantment of disappearing posts, YouTube appears to have hit the jackpot with its YouTube Shorts clone of TikTok. A little over a year after its global debut in July 2021, the firm claims that YouTube Shorts had 1.5 billion monthly users in June 2022.
Also read: How to Create a YouTube Channel?
