Goodbye YouTube Stories, Hello Enhanced Community Posts and Shorts; YouTube is discontinuing its Stories feature to prioritize Shorts and Community Posts. Learn why this decision is beneficial for creators and viewers alike.
YouTube’s recent decision to discontinue its Stories feature signifies a strategic shift towards prioritizing other essential content segments, such as Shorts and Community Posts. Let’s explore the reasons behind this move and why it’s beneficial for both YouTube creators and viewers.
A Fond Farewell to YouTube Stories
On May 25, 2023, YouTube announced via its community forum that Stories would be discontinued on June 26, 2023. Launched in 2018, and inspired by Snapchat and Instagram’s Stories, YouTube Stories were visible online for seven days and available exclusively to creators with over 10,000 subscribers. This approach aimed to create a more focused content-sharing environment compared to Instagram’s ephemeral one-day Stories.
While YouTube Stories provided creators with a platform to strengthen their channels and videos through quick updates, vlogs, behind-the-scenes content, and more, it failed to garner traction among creators and viewers, primarily due to limited promotions and exclusive access.
Embracing the Benefits of Saying Goodbye to Stories
By discontinuing Stories, YouTube can now channel its resources and attention towards Community Posts and Shorts—two thriving and popular segments. According to the platform, these features “deliver valuable audience connections and conversations.”
YouTube’s announcement emphasized that Shorts is optimal for creating short video content or reaching a new audience. Notably, creators who use both Shorts and Stories have significantly more subscribers on average for Shorts, highlighting its potential for enhanced viewer interaction and audience growth.
Furthermore, this move may prompt a much-needed design overhaul for YouTube Shorts’ interface. Currently, Shorts lacks precision-seeking features like those on TikTok, making it impossible to rewind or fast-forward a video or view its total duration. The comments section also requires improvements, as clicking on it causes the comments to block the video. Streamlining these interface concerns will undoubtedly improve user experience and engagement.
Community Posts: The New Frontier for Creator-Viewer Interaction
Community Posts, previously limited to channels with over 1,000 subscribers, are now accessible to all creators. These posts allow creators to build their YouTube presence outside their long-form video content with Instagram-like engagement features such as polls, quizzes, filters, and stickers. Furthermore, the 24-hour expiry time of posts generates a sense of excitement and urgency.
As YouTube states, “Posts on average drive many times more comments and likes compared to Stories.” This shift towards Community Posts signifies an opportunity for creators to foster meaningful connections with their audience.
Streamlining Features for a User-Friendly Experience
Although some creators may miss the Stories feature, YouTube’s decision to discontinue it is a strategic move towards streamlining its offerings. By eliminating less-utilized features, the platform aims to avoid overwhelming viewers and creators with multiple content options, ultimately enhancing its functionality.
By focusing on Shorts and Community Posts, YouTube can now deliver high-quality content that boosts channel traffic and provides a user-friendly experience for all. As short-form content continues to gain popularity, platforms like TikTok will thrive, and while emulating their approach may seem appealing to YouTube, it may not always yield the desired results.
