YouTube has just released a new feature called “Reels” which is basically the service’s own version of Snapchat and Instagram’s stories format.
The new feature is part of YouTube’s bid to allow creators to connect with their fans on a more intimate level with YouTube Community, where creators can post updates and other snippets between uploads.
However, YouTube’s Reels don’t expire after 24 hours, and can be kept forever or organized into folders for different events and projects. Creators will even be able to link to videos within Reels.
For viewers, they’ll be able to find past stories or view entire collections as Reels don’t expire the way Stories do.
The feature is currently being rolled out to creators who have over 10,000 YouTube subscribers, so you’re probably going to need to have a pretty healthy community of subscribers if you even want to have the option. But it’s still nice to have if you happen to be a creator who doesn’t want to rely too much on other platforms to share little snippets of video with your fans, so I foresee the feature to be getting quite some use out of it.
Do you think this will replace Stories though? let us know in the comments.