YouTube Shorts are YouTube’s version of Instagram Reels or TikTok. It facilitates users to watch short, vertical videos in a “Shorts” section of the YouTube mobile application.
When videos are uploaded to YouTube Shorts, they can add a description to tell viewers more about it. This description though isn't visible to the viewers automatically.
In fact, Google’s foray into the short-form video content has begun with YouTube Shorts. YouTube Shorts, first launched in India was described as:
“Shorts is a new short-form video experience for creators and artists who wish to shoot short, catchy videos using nothing but their mobile phones.”
YouTube Shorts offers the following advantages to the video creators:
- The marketers can create and upload the videos or 15 seconds or less
- The videos can be edited with several creative tools
- The shorter clips can be stitched together with the help of multi-segment cameras
- The music can be added to the videos from YouTube’s library
- The videos can be speeded up or slowed down
- The timers and countdowns can be taken care of
Users can start recording a Short with the new create icon that has been prominently placed in the YouTube app for Android (expanding to iOS soon.
Let’s see how we can view video description while using YouTube Shorts:
- While viewing a YouTube Shorts video, tap the three dots on the right side of the screen.
- This displays the video description at the bottom of the screen.
How to Create YouTube Shorts
YouTube Shorts feature allows users to share short, vertical videos that can be viewed within the Shorts section on the YouTube mobile application.
One can follow the steps below to create a YouTube Shorts video:
Step 1: Tap the Shorts icon at the bottom of the screen.
Step 2: Tap the camera icon near the top-right corner of the screen.
Step 3: If you’ve never given the YouTube application access to the camera and microphone of your device, you’ll require to do so before moving on. Tap on “Allow Access” to complete the process.
Step 4: Once the appropriate permissions have been turned on, one can record a YouTube Shorts video. Tap the capture button at the bottom of the screen to begin recording. One can also tab the “Add Music” option or their options including “Flip,” “Speed,” “Timer” and “Filters” buttons to edit their videos before recording them. One can also click on the icon at the bottom-left corner of the screen to import a video from their device’s camera roll before recording a new clip.
Wrap Up
YouTube has more monthly active users than both TikTok & Instagram combined at 2 billion. So there’s a considerable greater audience for marketers who employ YouTube Shorts to gain competitive advantage by creating engrossing content and putting it forth to a greater audience of people. Furthermore, YouTube’s monetization features make it appealing for creators to invest their time into it.
On paper, YouTube Shorts has what it takes to be a major player in the short-form video market. And the good news for the marketers is that they have all the time to test-run and optimize this new feature from YouTube to their competitive advantages.
YouTube Shorts are on in actual practice and they are playing now.