Last month, Google announced that it was killing the under-utilised “YouTube Stories” feature on YouTube and revealed its intention to shift focus onto newer and more popular features like YouTube Shorts and Community posts. And it seems that the focus shift is apparent starting today as Google has quietly pushed out a new user interface change for gradually all users in its latest update to YouTube.
Previously only pushed out to selected YouTube users as beta-testing, the new UI change for all YouTube users puts the YouTube Shorts section on the top of your subscription feed, whereby it is ranked second in priority, right after one of the latest videos from your subscribed channels. The change is applicable and seen as both the desktop site of YouTube, as well as the YouTube application on Android and iOS.
The YouTube Shorts section previously only appeared on the recommendations tab and the dedicated Shorts Tab, but this new UI change means Shorts will also appear in your subscriptions from now on. Touted as a competitor to TikTok and Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts fall into the category of short-form vertical videos that loops back onto themselves. Many users called Shorts addictive and they can sink many hours scrolling for more content.
Although the popularity of YouTube Shorts has grown over time, the same could not be said for YouTube Stories, a feature that is copied from Instagram and Snapchat whereby content creators can post videos that will be automatically deleted in 24 hours. The official discontinuation of the Stories feature has been announced by YouTube, scheduled for June 26. Post this date, creators will no longer have the option to share stories on their respective pages. All stories made before this deadline will persist on the creators’ profiles for the customary seven days. However, come Monday, July 3, the YouTube platform will be devoid of any stories.
The YouTube user interface has gone through several revisions over the past 5 years, from introducing video playback speed configurations to removing the dislike button on videos, the platform has always stirred up conversation about the changes it makes to its website every time. Whether this change is a welcome one or an adverse one in the community remains to be seen and discussed by the Internet, but one thing is for certain, the YouTube you are using today is not the same as it was 5 years ago.
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