YouTube Shorts gains features from Instagram and TikTok

YouTube is slowly trying to break out of its own bubble and become not only a major video streaming platform, but also a major player in the world of social media. In a bid to compete with platforms like Instagram and TikTok, the platform has added new features for Shorts.

The tool, which allows you to post short videos in the style of TikTok and Reels, has new features that are clearly inspired by its competitors. These include the “Add Your Own” sticker, automatic captions, and video narration. Check out more details!

Read too:

Youtube Music tests creating music radios from random AI prompts
YouTube launches AI feature to remove copyrighted music from videos while keeping the rest of the audio

“Add Yours” Sticker Arrives on Shorts

The new “Add Your Own” sticker on YouTube Shorts is almost identical to the one on Instagram, which was launched in 2021, and it works the same way. The idea is to create a chain of posts with the same theme, such as “the most recent photo in your camera roll” or “the first photo of you and your partner”.

In other words, those who already use this sticker on Instagram won’t have many problems using it on Shorts; the transition will be very smooth. In the case of YouTube, they recommend that users start creating their own prompts to inspire their audience and trigger “a chain reaction of lovely content.”

In the ad they show an example with the sticker “Show me your summer”.

Text-to-Speech narrations, automatic captions, and more

YouTube also introduced Text-to-Speech to Shorts, which adds a voice-over to the text written in a post. This feature is also popular on apps like TikTok.

After recording a video, users can add text and click the “Add Voice” icon in the top left corner of the screen. YouTube offers four different voices for narration, allowing for a wider variety of options for content creators.

Another new feature is the ability to add and edit automatically generated captions to Shorts videos. Users will be able to choose from a variety of colors and fonts to better integrate captions into their videos. This feature, already familiar to Instagram users, offers more customization options and makes content more accessible and engaging.

In addition to these new features, the platform also introduced new effects based on the Minecraft franchise, with special backgrounds, dedicated filters and even a mini-game to be played while recording Shorts where the user needs to destroy the blocks before time runs out.

Finally, for Android users, the Auto Layout feature will be available soon. This feature will allow creators to use videos recorded in landscape format to be automatically cropped and fit into the Shorts layout. In addition, the feature also offers camera effects such as zoom.

According to the YouTube team, these new features will start to arrive for everyone in the coming weeks, with the aim of increasing interactivity and engagement on the platform.

Source: youtube