YouTube is the latest platform to move on from the Stories format, with YouTube Stories set to be depreciated next month. Originally launched in 2018 to latch onto the Stories trend, which had been initially sparked by Snapchat, YouTube Stories aimed to provide a similar, full-screen engagement option, and provide more ways for creators to connect.

Road to Retirement

Unfortunately, it never really caught on, and never even saw a full launch to all users/ With Shorts and Community Posts now gaining much more traction as engagement options, YouTube’s moving on from the Stories format to enhance its focus on these elements.

According to YouTube:

“Today, there are many ways to create on YouTube – from Community posts to Shorts to long-form and Live. To prioritize these key features, Stories are going away. Starting on 6/26/2023 the option to create a new YouTube Story will no longer be available. Stories that are already live on that date will expire 7 days after they were originally shared.”

Given the option’s relatively low usage, the announcement is unlikely to have a big impact, though it could alter your YouTube content planning moving forward. Really though, you’d be better off focusing on Shorts and Community Posts. Shorts are YouTube’s fastest-growing content format, while YouTube also continues to add new functionalities to Community Posts, which were made available to all channels this week.

YouTube itself says that Community posts are far better at driving engagement and interaction, and with Shorts offering a similar, full-screen video experience, there are essentially better options than the Stories display. To be honest, the arrival of Shorts sort of made the existence of the Stories display redundant, so not only is it a good move for YouTube from a revenue standpoint, it’s a rather logical one, too.

The Wrap

So, as of June 26, YouTube Stories will no longer be available, with the format following the lead of Twitter’s ‘Fleets’ and LinkedIn Stories, and some of the other, lesser-used Stories re-imaginings. Does this mean that all Social options will eventually be on the way out? Well, we’ll simply have to wait and see.

Sources

https://bit.ly/45AB0Fo