The Introduction of YouTube Stories

or should we say “Reels”...

The “stories” feature, first introduced by Snapchat in 2013, has been adopted by most social platforms in recent years, including Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, Skype and even Tinder! Stories give users a more casual, real-time insight into the lives of their friends, celebrities and influencers and allow content creators to post “behind the scenes” and insightful clips into their everyday lives.

Youtube is the latest platform who have decided to follow suit and roll out the “story” option on their mobile app. Their new feature “YouTube Reels”, are similar although not identical to the stories we are used to on other platforms. YouTube, have limited its use to those with over 10,000 subscribers and these “reels” will last for seven days, instead of the traditional 24 hours. These Reels will appear in the “up next” bar which is located beside the video you are watching and will be seen by both subscribers and non-subscribers of the channel.  YouTube has released a statement, that the introduction of Reels will hopefully improve engagement and will help channel promotion.

In an era where digital culture is booming, it is hard to imagine that the original site for online video could be struggling, but with so many social media apps now accommodating for video content, there is tough competition for YouTube to stay on top. Is the creation of YouTube “Reels” the answer to keep the platform's growth on track? Will the feature be accepted as it was on Instagram? Or rejected as it was on sites such as messenger and facebook. Only time will tell....