YouTube starts calling Stories what they are, rolls them out to more people

The Stories format that Snapchat introduced way back when doesn't show any signs of going away anytime soon. On the contrary, it seems like every single online service worth its salt is adding just such a feature. Following Instagram and WhatsApp and even Facebook itself, last November Google-owned YouTube announced its own spin on the model, which it called Reels.

Well, say goodbye to Reels because this functionality is now called Stories and it's recently been rolling out to more people as an extended test. Last year Reels was only accessible to creators with more than 10,000 subscribers, and it's unclear if this is still the limit, but you might already see it in a top bar in your YouTube app.

The format itself looks eerily similar to Instagram's, but then that itself was created to emulate Snapchat's original. On YouTube, there is a red ring around the avatars of accounts that have created Stories, which makes sense considering the color used for the service's branding. At the moment you can't comment or reply to stories, but that could change in the future.

To create a story, just choose the Add video icon in the top right, and then pick the Story option. Don't forget that this is in a limited rollout phase at the moment, so you may not see that button yet.

While we appreciate that YouTube has decided to come clean about its intentions and call Stories what they are instead of the awkward-sounding Reels, one question still remains: does the service actually need Stories? We assume only time will tell.

Source (in Italian) | Via