Google has joined the short-form video game with YouTube Shorts, a new feature being rolled out to creators starting in India. YouTube Shorts can be created entirely by using mobile phones.
What are the features available for YouTube Shorts?
With YouTube Shorts, creators will be able to:
- Create and upload videos less than fifteen seconds
- Edit videos with a number of available tools
- Edit shorter snippets and clips together
- Add music to your video from the YouTube library
- Add motion effects, speed up or slow down your footage
- Add timers and countdowns
The Shorts feature is currently available in the Android mobile app and will expand to iOS in the coming months.
Where does my Short appear once it has been uploaded?
Shorts will appear in a new, designated carousel on the YouTube homepage for short videos. Users will be able to go from one video to the next by swiping vertically while viewing the content in the carousel, similar to Stories in other apps. The carousel will not only feature videos created with Shorts: short videos from throughout the YouTube network will also be highlighted. YouTube is encouraging creators to begin uploading short videos in anticipation of the full rollout of the Shorts feature.
What’s available in the beta version?
The beta version will be available soon and only include a handful of features, with more expected to be added as YouTube determines what works and what doesn’t. Shorts will be rolled out and expanded to other countries in the coming months as YouTube collects user feedback to continue building the program.
Is Shorts just YouTube’s answer to TikTok?
TikTok, a short video format social network that has recently been taking the world by storm, is banned in India, making it an interesting choice for the launch of YouTube Shorts. However, it would not do Shorts justice to compare it as just another TikTok ripoff. While its key competition in Instagram Reels has the backing of Facebook, Shorts has the sheer numbers of Google behind it: there are over 2 billion active users on YouTube, compared to 1 billion Instagram users worldwide and just over 700 million TikTok users. Unlike the other networks, YouTube allows users to monetize their content, providing more of an incentive for users to give Shorts a chance.
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