YouTube Shorts, YouTube’s Tik-Tok Rival Rolled Out In The US

Mar 23, 2021 2 min read

YouTube Shorts, launched as TikTok rival, is the company's short-form video experience launched recently in the US. It allows creators to record, edit and share short-form video content 60 seconds or less in length.

YouTube has partnerships with over 250 publishers and labels for use in the Shorts globally. The initial goal with Shorts is to simplify and lower the entry barrier for users who are willing to create and publish short-form video content on their existing social platform.

The initial beta included

  • Multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together
  • Ability to record with music
  • Control speed settings in the video
  • Ability to add text to specific points in your video
  • Ability to sample audio from other Shorts so you can remix it into your creation

youtube-with-text-shortsSource: YouTube

youtube-shortsSource: YouTube

The YouTube Shorts is still considered a beta, as YouTube expects to upgrade on the Shorts experience over time and respond to the feedback as it takes Shorts under a new development line.

Of course, YouTube isn't the first social platform to copy TikTok. Instagram Reels and Snapchat Spotlight are on the same lines of short-form video content. For YouTube, it's even more critical to offer support for short-form videos to stay relevant in a market. The experience of making video content for YouTube Shorts is similar to TikTok.

Look And Feel

  • Full-screen vertical video experience
  • Double-tap to like a video
  • Tap into the comments or share the video with others
  • Subscribe to the creators' YouTube channel from Shorts, if you find their content interesting
  • Tap on hashtags in YouTube Shorts that will take you to a page with other videos using the same hashtag
  • Tap on the square music icon to go to a page featuring that same sound. Here, you can find all the other Shorts using that sound

Additional tools—like using audio from YouTube videos and music partners will become available as YouTube expands the platform to more countries.

So far, we have often seen creators simply repurposing their TikTok videos for use on other platforms and not developing original content each for - TikTok, Reels, and Spotlight.

Know more about how the YouTube algorithm works.

Creaters can put a creative spin on existing content and access a library of songs from more than 250 labels and publishers. However, creators can opt-out if they don't want their long-form recordings reworked into a Short.

In the race of short video format, it will be good to see what platforms do to stand out. Let us know what you think of YouTube Shorts.

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Anjali Kandey

Anjali is a marketing manager at Statusbrew. She likes to write content that addresses a solution. She can be found in her garden when not on her computer.

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