YouTube Shorts feature rolling out for some users

Short video content really appeals to a lot of users because it offers a short burst of entertainment without demanding any commitment. We’ve seen the proof in terms of the unprecedented growth of services like Snapchat, Instagram, and especially TikTok. This growth seems to have compelled bigger content platforms like YouTube to experiment with newer content forms such as 15-second long Stories introduced in November 2018. Much more recently, YouTube was also found experimenting with a TikTok-like feature called “Shorts” for relatively longer videos. And just a few days later, Shorts already seems to be rolling out to certain users.

For all of these users, the Shorts show up differently inside the YouTube app. This suggests YouTube may be testing the feature is a small set of users. Shorts appear under Watch History or video suggestions under the currently played videos – either separately or alongside Stories.

Just got this email from a person claiming that YouTube’s rumored “Shorts” feature rolled out for them. The screenshots are in Spanish but the person did not say where they’re from. The video length on the top left seems new as does the video player UI.https://t.co/hcph5y4Af3 pic.twitter.com/IhX4kGZHed

— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) April 3, 2020

I have had this for about 1 month now. And the slighty changed video player UI. It can now show the remaining time on a video when you tap on it pic.twitter.com/F1wOnX0w72

— RTX69 (@thertx69) April 3, 2020

You can tell Shorts apart from Stories by the timestamp, a title, and the name of the creator on the former instead of the channels’ thumbnail on Stories.

Apparently YT Short refers to videos uploaded by users with a very short duration (like fragments of a song). That YT Short is shown in my play history.)

— _ (@Jxvxt) April 3, 2020

YouTube Shorts are of varying length and as per one user, videos of short length and vertical orientation might automatically get converted into this format. There seems to not be an exact way to upload videos as Shorts. But, unlike Stories, short videos don’t appear to be limited to popular creators.

Just like TikTok or Instagram, you can’t seek the short video but you do get the option to like or dislike it. You can also subscribe to the creator from the same window itself.

I have it now, too, but I haven’t changed my language/locale at all. pic.twitter.com/1vxO6cehM0

— Greg Willard (r3pwn) (@r3pwn) April 3, 2020

For now, there’s only limited information about Shorts but we’ll update you when we learn more.

Interestingly, this is not Google’s first attempt at competing with ByteDance’s TikTok. Back in January, Google launched Tangi, an app allowing indie creators to DIY and share short videos.

YouTube (Free, Google Play) →

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