In a move to prioritize key features and enhance user experience, YouTube, the popular video streaming platform owned by Google, has announced the discontinuation of its Stories feature, introduced in 2017. Starting June 26, 2023, users will no longer be able to create new YouTube Stories, and existing Stories will expire after seven days, as stated in a company blog post.
YouTube clarified that the decision to end the Stories feature was driven by the multitude of other creative options available on the platform. With a focus on long-form content, YouTube Shorts, and Community posts, the company believes that creators can better engage with their audience and nurture their online communities.
To compensate for the absence of Stories, YouTube encourages content creators to leverage the Community feature, which allows them to share updates, initiate discussions, and promote their YouTube content. According to YouTube, creators who utilize both Community posts and Stories experience significantly higher levels of engagement in terms of comments and likes on their posts.
YouTube Community offers several features reminiscent of Stories, including editing tools and the option for posts to expire after 24 hours. Additionally, creators can now employ engagement features such as polls, quizzes, filters, and stickers to further enhance interaction with their audience.
YouTube Shorts; Captivates
Another avenue for creators to explore is YouTube Shorts, a short video format designed to captivate viewers and attract new subscribers. YouTube claims that Shorts, on average, generate significantly more subscribers than Stories. The Shorts camera presents creators with mobile video tools, such as adding text, filters, or editing existing content. YouTube pledges to introduce additional engaging features to enhance the Shorts experience. Notably, the platform recently rolled out the capability to reply to comments using Shorts.
In other news, Google recently merged its DeepMind and Brain teams to form a unified entity called Google DeepMind. This combined unit has unveiled plans to utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to generate descriptions specifically tailored for YouTube Shorts, promising a more immersive and personalized viewing experience.
YouTube’s decision to retire the Stories feature reflects its commitment to continuous improvement and innovation. By encouraging creators to embrace Community posts and Shorts, the platform aims to provide users with a diverse range of creative tools and foster a vibrant and engaging community of content creators and viewers alike.
