YouTube Stories Launched for Channels with 10,000+ Subscribers

YouTube is beginning to roll out Stories to more creators, as it becomes the latest social media platform to widely adopt the temporary content sharing structure.

Stories was launched back in June to a select number of channels, but now, any influencer with over 10,000 subscribers will be able to post updates for their followers.

Unlike other versions, YouTube Stories won’t disappear after 24-hours, but rather seven days.

Viewers will be able to publicly comment on each slide. These messages can receive a heart, a thumbs up or a thumbs down from other members of the audience.

Creators can choose to reply to individual comments by pinning them to the screen when recording their response.

TechCrunch journalist Sarah Perez speculates: “Many YouTube creators point their fans to their Instagram for their short-form content and behind-the-scenes action — something that YouTube likely hopes to stem with its launch of Stories.”

Instagram has just introduced ‘Close Friends’, a new feature that has reportedly been in the works for 17 months.

Users can update their Stories with posts only the friends they’ve pre-selected can see. This is to encourage people to freely post more content without worrying it might be seen by a family member or colleague.

Robby Stein, Instagram Director of Product, said at TechCrunch Disrupt: “To really be yourself and connect and be connected to your best friends, you need your own place.”

Despite being credited with inventing the Stories concept, Snapchat has fallen behind when it comes to daily active users. As of June 2018, Instagram boasts 400 million DAUs while Snapchat has just 188 million users on the whole app.

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