YouTube is saying goodbye to its YouTube Stories service next month. Starting June 26, it will no longer be possible to create a new story on YouTube. Stories published before that date will disappear seven days after they are uploaded. The change comes as the company aims to focus on other core areas, such as Shorts, Community posts, and live videos , in addition to its traditional content . Creators will be notified of the shutdown via forum posts, in- app messages , reminders in YouTube Studio, and more.
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“As Shorts adoption has grown on YouTube, we’ve seen creators benefit from this new format,” a YouTube spokesperson told TechCrunch about the changes. “Stories are going away so we can prioritize key areas creators need to be successful. We’ll continue to invest in helping creators grow and connect with their audiences across formats,” they added.
YouTube first announced its testing of YouTube Stories in late 2017. Back then, the feature was called Reels. The platform changed the name and began rolling out the feature more broadly the following year.
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Many major social media platforms have incorporated a Story feature since the format became popular on Snapchat . For example, Instagram adopted it and saw great success . However, other platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn (and now YouTube) have abandoned this feature.
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In fact, YouTube Stories have never been very popular, and the company says creators can use Community posts to share quick updates with their audience. YouTube said that among creators who use “posts and Stories, posts on average drive significantly more comments and “likes” compared to “Stories.”
Source: www.engadget.com
