[ad_1]
TikTok is truly the popular kid on social media these days, as evidenced by the huge American tech companies fighting over who can buy a share. Others, like Instagram, have tried to copy the format, and now YouTube has joined the fray.
YouTube today officially announced ‘Shorts’, a short form video feature found within the main app. While the company has recently featured videos that are only seconds long on its mobile app, Shorts takes things to the next level by offering video creation tools similar to those found on TikTok and Reels. The feature starts as a beta version available in India.
Each short is 15 seconds or less long. Multiple clips can be stitched together and YouTube takes advantage of its vast library of licensed music to allow you to shoot with some background melodies. Users will see a timer and countdown when they start filming, and can control the recording speed to add some creative options.
To get people to really use the feature, YouTube will prominently feature a button to upload new videos right at the bottom of the app’s navigation bar.
While the company is certainly jumping on the latest bandwagon, to be fair, YouTube has as much right to the ‘funny short video’ format as anyone, considering that the first video uploaded to the platform was only 18 seconds long. Many creators on the platform already specialize in short videos (some of which come from Vine), and there is no shortage of 10-second-long meme videos either.
Alternatively, it could end up being more bloated on a platform that’s already packed with content.
YouTube notes that although Shorts is in ‘early beta’, it is releasing it now to get user feedback to improve the feature over time. It is not as comprehensive as TikTok, but it is a start; Let’s hope it’s the beginning of something worthwhile.
For more news and reviews on computers, devices and hardware, follow Connected
Twitter and Flipboard.
Posted on Sep 15, 2020 – 00:44 UTC
[ad_2]
