YouTube has always been a place for entertainment - from the most popular dance trends like Evolution of Dance, Roller Skate Dances, or the ...
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YouTube has always been a place for entertainment - from the most popular dance trends like Evolution of Dance, Roller Skate Dances, or the Jerusalema Challenge to short, highly replayable videos like Charlie Bit My Finger, Good morning y'all or even Lockdown Trick Shots. Over the years, YouTube has nurtured a generation of creative individuals who have shared their voices and found an audience of more than two billion people. The next chapter of the most popular online video platform begins with YouTube Shorts.
User-generated short videos were born on YouTube, starting with the first upload, a short 18-second video called Me at the Zoo. Thanks to advances in technology, content creators and artists can now harness the incredible power of smartphones to easily create and publish quality content wherever they are. And people can be entertained and informed by bite-sized content in the few spare minutes of the day.
To further expand mobile capabilities and make it accessible to more people, YouTube is developing the new YouTube Shorts platform for you and us, a new short video experience directly on YouTube for creators and artists who want to shoot short, memorable videos using only their phones.
What is YouTube Shorts?
It's a new way of expressing yourself in 15 seconds or less, and YouTube provides you with three main areas to explore as a foundation, whether you're a creator or a consumer:
Create:
Creating is at the heart of short videos, and the provider wants to make creating short films easy and fun for you.
Other "small" functions that are currently still being tested:
- A multi-segment camera to string multiple video clips together,
- The option to record with music from a large library of songs that will continue to grow,
- Speed controls that give you the flexibility to get creative with your performance,
- And a timer and Countdown for easy, hands-free recording.
To be discovered:
A blog post from the tech giant explains why YouTube decided to launch Shorts: "Every month, 2 billion viewers come to YouTube to laugh, learn and connect. Creators have built entire businesses on YouTube, and we want to enable the next generation of mobile creators to use shorts to build a community on YouTube too.”
“User-generated short videos were born on YouTube with our first upload, a short 18-second video called 'Me in the zoo'. With advances in technology, creatives and artists can now harness the incredible power of smartphones to easily create and publish quality content no matter where they are in the world."
Look at:
You may have seen a line specifically for short videos on the YouTube homepage recently. YouTube has also now brought you a new watch feature that allows you to easily swipe vertically from one video to another and discover other similar short videos.
YouTube says consumers today like bite-sized content that they can enjoy any time of the day. A platform like YouTube Shorts allows viewers to detach themselves from lengthy video content and switch between them at will.
How do I create a YouTube Short?
Similar to TikTok and Reels, YouTube Shorts are easy to create right inside the YouTube mobile app. How to create your first short film:
#1 Click the "+" icon at the bottom of the home page.
#2 Tap on “Create a”.
#3 Record your short film by tapping the red record button once. You can also upload a clip from your camera. Here you can also set your video speed, start a timer or add filters.
#4 When you're done filming, click the white checkmark in the bottom right corner of the screen.
#5 You can now add music from YouTube audio library and overlay text and filters.
#6 Click Next in the top right to add your video's title, set its visibility to the public, unlisted, or private, set the publish time and specify any age restrictions. These are all things that YouTubers should already be familiar with.
#7 Finally, click “Upload” in the top right, and voila! Your very first short film is ready for the whole world to see.
How is YouTube Shorts different from its competitors?
While Shorts looks and sounds similar to TikTok and Reels, it does have a few different qualities.
Possibly the largest music library
A large majority of artists upload their music to YouTube - especially their music videos. This gives Shorts a huge advantage over its competitors, as the platform's massive audio library gives users a wealth of well-known and undiscovered songs to choose from, potentially more than what TikTok and Reels offer their users.
The planning tool is a dream for social marketers
The shorts upload process is pretty much the same as YouTube videos, which means you get access to the scheduling tool. TikTok and Reels both have the ability to save drafts, but you can't schedule your content to go live directly in the apps. This is every social marketer's dream as it not only saves time but also allows content to be published during peak hours without you having to be there yourself!
What are the benefits of YouTube Shorts?
Seeing a random YouTube short video is quite normal as there are many of them to see every time you log in. YouTube Shorts brings many viewers to your channel by randomly adding your videos to their feeds. After TikTok was banned in many countries, more and more YouTubers have started releasing their shorter versions of videos. Thus, YouTube Shorts is a great platform to promote your channel and go viral in a short amount of time.
Easily create videos
It's easy to create and upload shorts as you can do it directly from the YouTube app. One tap on the app to record a short video and another tap to stop it. Next, you can immediately go live with the video.
You don't have to use a computer
You don't need any professional skills to upload videos to YouTube Shorts. You can do this pretty quickly with your smartphone. You also don't need a PC, laptop, software or video editing program to create short videos on YouTube Shorts.
Attracting new subscribers is one of the main benefits of YouTube Shorts
With entertaining or informative content, shorts can help you reach new audiences. Starting from your niche, you can gain more views and potential subscribers in no time. Viewers these days are more interested in shorter videos than long-winded content. This is the main reason why shorts are the first choice for many newbies.
captivate users
Viewers prefer to see more in less time, and that's the biggest benefit of shorts. You can create around 20-30 short videos a day and get more views that way. If you manage to engage users, you can move on to the longer versions.