YouTube started to test a TikTok-like feature called Shorts last year, but the beta was only available in India. Last month, YouTube announced that Shorts is being tested in the United States and promised to make it available to everyone soon after the beta is over.
Earlier today, YouTube confirmed that Shorts is rolling out to all creators in the United States. More importantly, YouTube Shorts is gaining a couple of upgrades with the market launch announced today.
First off, creators can now choose to capture 60-second videos instead of very short 15-second videos. Also, they can add new filters and effects on their shorts, although it’s worth mentioning that if you decide to use the music from YouTube’s library, your short will revert to the 15-second (or less) format. Captions can also be used in shorts, and creators can choose to manually introduce them or let YouTube automatically display captions in their shorts. Users can toggle between the two options as they was a short.
YouTube revealed in a video today that more filters and effects for Shorts will be released in the coming months. As far as mobile users go, YouTube Shorts is getting a dedicated tab in the YouTube mobile app, which replaces that Explore tab at the bottom. Of course, the Explore tab is very important for YouTube, so it hasn’t been removed. However, you will now find the Explore tab at the top left corner of the YouTube mobile app.
