A lot of tech companies had been scratching their heads looking at the success of TikTok, a Chinese short video sharing platform. While the content and content moderation on TiokTok was never up to the mark, however, the sheer pace that TikTok grew in developing countries especially India made all the tech giants wonder where they went wrong. And thus had been waiting for an opportune moment to cash in.
That moment did arrive in the form of a ban imposed on TikTok and 58 others by the Indian government which opened the floodgates for TikTok copy-cats to seize the moment. Apart from several homegrown fly-by-night apps that appeared overnight, even big wigs like Instagram have tested waters with Reels.
Now even YouTube has jumped into the race with YouTube Shorts – a new service that allows you to share short 15-seconds videos. The feature has been rolled out at a time when TikTok is facing scrutiny in the US apart from India. While TikTok has agreed to work with Oracle in the US, its future in India is still bleak.
No prizes for guessing that YouTube Shorts come with a new camera and a bunch of tools to quickly edit your video and make it share-worthy. Additionally, users will be able to use popular songs that are to YouTube’s massive library, in these videos. The feature is currently being rolled out in India on the Android version of YouTube and will gradually be made available on the iOS application as well.
How to create and share videos on YouTube Shorts?
Like TikTok, YouTube wants to ensure that users are able to create and share content easily. Hence, To create a video on YouTube Shorts, you do not need to download any additional app. The feature is being rolled out to the YouTube application and, as mentioned above, is being rolled out on the Android application initially.
On opening the YouTube application on your phone, you’ll find that the create option has been moved at the bottom of the screen. Tap the (+) icon at the centre of this bar and then tap on “Video” and lastly select “Create a Short Video.”
Mind you all the option to create a Short video will only be available in case you have already got the feature on your application. Since these updates are rolled out in a staggered manner, you might have to wait till the time the option doesn’t automatically start appearing in the YouTube application.
YouTube has stated that there will be more features added in coming days and has suggested the users who still do not have "Short" available on their phones will still be able to record 60 seconds video and share them with #Shorts thus stand a chance to be featured in the highlighted section on the app.
