What are Youtube Shorts?
Youtube Launches ‘Shorts’ Combatting Tik Tok and Instagram Reels
The social media giants have been very busy competing against one another this past year. The latest exciting feature comes from Youtube with their ‘Shorts’. Their version of short 60 second vertical videos, similar to those on Tik Tok and Instagram Reels. It didn’t take long for Instagram to up their Reel length from 20 seconds to 60 seconds either. Find out all about ‘Shorts’ below. This feature is still in beta so keep your eyes peeled.
Photo Credit Youtube
How to use it?
The feature is still being rolled out, but within the Youtube app, click upload and you will see an option to upload a ‘Short’. Then simply get ready to record your vertical video! If you want to view shorts go to the section within Youtube as you can see below:
Photo Credit : Youtube
What can it do?
- It has multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together
- You can record with music from a large library of songs which will continue to grow as the feature develops
- Speed controls which give you the flexibility to be creative in your performance
- A handy timer and countdown to easily record hands-free
The success so far
YouTube’s Shorts are getting much more visibility than typical videos, with over 3.5 billion views while in early beta. It comes as no surprise they are trying to roll this out as quick as they can. As an indicator TikTok is reaching 1 billion monthly active users and is likely to become the first platform to reach the milestone in such a short time.
Can I monetize shorts?
Currently because of the Beta testing phase, the video views don’t directly contribute to earnings. However every time your shorts are viewed your channel analytics are affected for the better. We are sure once it’s rolled out properly it will form part of the different ways to monetize Youtube.
Conclusion
Shorts will certainly shake up how we use shorter video pieces on Youtube. This new feature has created a level playing field between Tik Tok, Instagram and Youtube. We can expect to see the other platforms sharing more new features to compete and engage creators. Stay tuned, things are about to heat up in the video marketing world!