There’s no doubt that TikTok and its format of short, music-backed video clips has been a runaway success, filling the void left behind by the likes of Vine years before it.
Now, YouTube wants in.According to sources speaking with The Information, the Google-owned video giant is planning a Shorts feature that will more or less mimic TikTok’s functionality from within the YouTube mobile app.Just like the rivalling TikTok platform, YouTube’s Shorts is said to offer a feed of user-created short videos along with tools to make them yourself, including access to the video platform’s extensive catalog of licensed music to use for soundtracking purposes.Obviously, gaining popularity isn’t as simple as offering the same set of features as an existing platform – YouTube has attempted a similar thing with its Instagram-esque Stories feature in the past. At least some part of the formula that makes an app ‘take off’ is organic and uncontrollable, but it seems that some of TikTok’s appeal came from its encouragement of user-made, amateur videos rather than longer, more produced content.Admittedly, we’re not positive whether this feature is indeed even being worked on at this stage, let alone when it will launch.
That said, if we’re to believe the sources, we should be seeing Shorts land in the YouTube app by the end of the year.