YouTube, the video-sharing platform owned by Google, is launching a feature that’s similar to Instagram and Snapchat. It’s called YouTube Stories and is available only on its mobile platform for users who have at least 10,000 subscribers.
This stories feature from YouTube has a shelf-life of seven days as opposed to the 24 hours feature in Instagram and Snapchat. YouTube says this feature is mainly being rolled out for heavy users to promote their channels and build community engagement.
Here’s an example of how YouTube stories look:
With stories lasting seven days, in that period YouTube creators can interact with their audience, replying to queries via a video or a photo. Yes, one can’t reply with normal text – those are only on regular YouTube videos on a user’s channel.
If you have over 10,000 subscribers on your Youtube channel, you can start shooting and saving stories. Here’s how you can go about it.
How To Create YouTube Stories
Stories are short, mobile-only videos that allow you to connect with your audience more casually, on the go. Stories will expire after 7 days. They are currently in beta.
1. Sign in to YouTube and tap the camera icon.
2. Tap Story tab.
3. To record, hold the capture button.
4. To take a photo, tap the capture button .
5. You can also select a video or image from your mobile device to add to your story.
The stories feature is already available on Facebook-owned platforms such as Instagram, Whatsapp and Facebook itself. Whatsapp has a similar feature in its status message tab, where ‘status’ stories disappear after 24 hours. In YouTube’s stories, however, videos last for seven days before disappearing.
However, unlike the Facebook-owned apps, replies on YouTube stories are only possible with video and photos, not text. That functionality is reserved for its regular video channel.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)