YouTube has recently revealed plans to discontinue its 'YouTube Stories' feature. The company's decision comes as part of its strategy to shift focus towards other essential areas, including Shorts, Community posts, and live videos. In a blog post on Thursday, YouTube said that users would no longer be able to create new YouTube Stories starting from June 26, 2023. Stories that are already live on that date will remain accessible for seven days before expiring.
The Google-owned video-sharing platform mentioned that the creators would receive notifications regarding the shutdown through various channels, such as forum posts, in-app messages, reminders in YouTube Studio, and more.
While the departure of Stories is imminent, YouTube suggested alternative features that can provide valuable audience connections and conversations. For creators seeking to share lightweight updates, initiate discussions, or promote their content, they can opt YouTube Community posts which offers an excellent option.
The company added that they recently expanded access to Community posts to millions of creators and have brought some of the aspects of Stories into Community posts such as rich editing tools, and the ability for posts to expire after 24 hours.
On the other hand, YouTube Shorts, a platform for creating short video content, is recommended for those aiming to engage with new audiences.
Among creators who utilize both Shorts and Stories, Shorts have shown to generate significantly more subscribers on average.
"With new features for both Shorts and Community posts to be announced throughout the year, we are committed to investing in new and innovative tools to help you grow your audiences across YouTube," the company mentioned.
Furthermore, Google clarified that it will not delete accounts with YouTube videos, despite its recent announcement of removing personal accounts and associated content that have remained inactive or unaccessed for two years. In an update to their blog post, Google stated, "We do not have plans to delete accounts with YouTube videos at this time."
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