Never cared for YouTube’s version of TikTok? YouTube wants to change that

Chief Product Officer of YouTube, Neal Mohan, announces several upcoming features and tools for the streaming platform. This includes YouTube going full speed ahead for its TikTok-like Shorts feature as they claim that “short-form content is incredibly popular” right now.

“I’m excited for all the new products and tools that we’ll be rolling out in 2022—you’ll notice a few highly requested features on this year’s roadmap. Every single one of these updates is based on a lot of discussion and data, as well as feedback from the entire YouTube community,” said Mohan.

There are quite a few new features he talked about, including an improvement to the search function, the infrastructure that powers the platform, as well as advancing formats like YouTube TV and YouTube Music. Additionally, he also touched on how YouTube aims to get more into short-form content with Shorts after introducing it last year.

YouTube Shorts

You can already watch some YouTube Shorts content on the platform. I personally watch my YouTube content from my desktop, so it’s not as satisfying to watch short portrait-mode videos on there. Shorts is meant to be watched through your phone, just like TikTok, but I’ve actually never even touched the Shorts button at the bottom of the YouTube app’s user interface.

However, YouTube wants Shorts to be a strong TikTok competitor. Mohan said that they will “continue to improve the product and make it easier to create videos”.

YouTube is building on a feature they introduced last year—which lets you remix audio from other videos on YouTube. Creators can use new video effects, editing tools, and others. Additionally, creators will get to “engage with their audience more personally”, as YouTube would be introducing the ability to reply to individual comments.

These features sound pretty similar to what TikTok already has. You can make new TikTok videos to reply to comments, and you also have a wide range of editing tools for video, audio, and even for photos. But a feature to actually remix audio sounds pretty new, even for TikTok—so YouTube might have one-upped TikTok there.

Last year, YouTube even started rewarding Shorts creators for their work through the YouTube Shorts Fund. Now, they stated that “over 40 percent of creators who got a check from the Fund last year weren’t previously monetising”. They will soon explore other ways for Shorts creators to make money, through branded content and directing viewers through a YouTube Shopping link.

Other upcoming features

I’ve been seeing a lot more up-and-coming YouTube creators streaming Live on the platform. YouTube even reported that the daily live watch time “more than tripled between January 2020 and December 2021”. For their Live feature, they’re introducing collaborative livestreaming—which allows creators to go live together. YouTube is also testing out the ability for creators to “set channel guidelines” and “sort comments timed to the exact moment they’re watching”—something familiar to Twitch users.

The platform is also giving its Premium members more “seamless and smoother audio experiences” for YouTube Music, an improved user interface with updates for YouTube TV, shoppable videos where users can shop tagged items, and they even touched on their plans to join the “metaverse” through gaming. You can read Mohan’s full blog post for added details.

“It’s perhaps thanks to the incredible age of change and innovation that we find ourselves in a series of new beginnings—not just for us, but also for our creators, viewers, and partners,” wrote Mohan.

In January, YouTube announced that YouTube Originals will be shutting down slowly. With such an ambitious part of YouTube now dead, it makes sense that the platform is going all out with other features. Hopefully, YouTube Shorts won’t share the same fate as YouTube Originals.

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