Google-owned YouTube announced mobile-only video feature Stories will begin to be wound down in June, with the company trying to push content creators towards short-form and community alternatives.

Stories are short-form videos with an expiry time of seven days which are available to users with more than 10,000 subscribers. The feature was launched in 2018 with content presented in a similar format to temporary videos on platforms including Snapchat and Instagram.

In a notice to users, YouTube explained it will remove the ability to add new Stories on 26 June with posts already live on that date disappearing as they expire.

It noted Stories was “going away” to prioritise “key features” on the platform, which it cited as shorts, community posts, long-form content and its live broadcast service.

YouTube pushed its Shorts option and audience-specific community posts as prime alternatives for Stories users.

“Amongst creators who use both [community] posts and Stories, posts on average drive many-times more comments and likes compared to Stories,” it added, while noting recruitment of subscribers the 60-second limited Shorts service outstripped its soon to be defunct option.

Source: mobileworldlive.com