YouTube Shorts gets Interactive with Add Yours Sticker, Text-to-Speech and More

YouTube this week released an episode of their series Release Notes featuring Johanna Wolich, YouTube's Chief Product Officer.The episode focused on YouTube Shorts, a short-form video platform similar to TikTok, and offered a glimpse into upcoming features and the platform's future direction.

Launched in 2021, YouTube Shorts allows users to create and share short videos, typically 60 seconds or less in length.According to the interview, YouTube Shorts has grown significantly, reaching 70 billion daily views. This indicates strong user engagement with the platform.

Wolich emphasized YouTube's commitment to empowering creators through Shorts. She highlighted features already available, such as the ability to link to longer videos and participate in the YouTube Partner Program (YPP) for monetization.

The interview also unveiled upcoming features designed to further enhance the creator experience. These features include:

• Add Yours Sticker: This sticker allows creators to prompt viewers to create their own related Shorts content, fostering a sense of community and collaboration.
• Editable Auto Captions: This feature will enable creators to edit the captions automatically generated by YouTube, improving accessibility and potentially search ranking.
• Text-to-Speech Narration: Shorts creators will have the ability to add narrated text overlays, potentially increasing engagement for viewers who watch videos on mute.
• New Minecraft Effects: To celebrate Minecraft's 15th anniversary, YouTube Shorts is introducing new Minecraft-themed effects, catering to a popular gaming community.

Beyond the new features, the interview highlighted YouTube's focus on fostering a community around Shorts. Wolich acknowledged the challenges creators face in building a community on Shorts compared to gaining views. She suggested replying to comments with Shorts themselves and utilizing YouTube's live streaming functionality as potential solutions.

The interview concluded with a call to creators to share their ideal length for Shorts content, hinting at a possible future exploration of extending the current 60-second limit.

The new features and focus on community building suggest that YouTube is actively competing with TikTok and other short-form video platforms. By empowering creators and fostering a more interactive environment, YouTube Shorts may attract new creators and viewers, potentially reshaping the short-form video landscape.