YouTube has announced the termination of its ‘Stories’ feature, with an official closure date set for 26 June 2023. This strategic move is in response to the increasing popularity and effectiveness of its ‘Community Posts’ and ‘YouTube Shorts’ features. These alternatives have demonstrated their ability to foster better audience engagement and interactive conversations, as noted on the company’s official blog.
The ‘Stories’ feature, initially branded as ‘Reels’, made its debut in 2017. However, its reach was limited as it was exclusively accessible to YouTube users boasting over 10,000 subscribers. Much like its counterparts on Instagram and Snapchat, YouTube Stories would disappear after a predetermined duration. This tool allowed creators to share behind-the-scenes content and updates to boost their channel visibility.
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The inception of ‘Stories’ coincided with the employment of Todd Sherman, who had previously served as the lead product manager for Snapchat’s popular version of the feature. Despite this, YouTube Stories struggled to gain the same traction as its competitors, largely due to its restricted accessibility.
Conversely, YouTube’s ‘Community Posts’ feature has emerged as a robust tool for creators, enabling them to disseminate quick updates and promote their offerings. It’s been observed that, among creators who use both posts and Stories, posts generally attracted more comments and likes.
To enhance the reach and utility of ‘Community Posts’, YouTube has extended access to this feature to millions of creators and integrated popular elements of ‘Stories’, such as advanced editing tools and the option for posts to disappear after 24 hours. YouTube is also equipping creators with new engagement tools like polls, quizzes, filters, and stickers.
The YouTube team is dedicated to introducing fresh features for both ‘Shorts’ and ‘Community posts’ throughout the year, as part of their commitment to providing innovative tools that empower creators to expand their audiences across YouTube.
This information is based on an article originally published by Marketing Interactive.
