YouTube is testing its own version of Stories
A beta version of “Reels” will soon be released to a handful of creators.
YouTube announced today that it's rolling out the Community tab -- a social feature released among a few select creators last year -- to all creators with more than 10,000 subscribers. However, it noted that a new video function is in the works as well. They're called "Reels" and much like Instagram or Snapchat Stories, they allow creators to stitch together short videos shot from their mobile devices and add things like filters, music and text.
Though it's like other platforms' versions of Stories, there are some key differences with Reels. First, as TechCrunch reports, the videos won't sit on top of the home page of the app but will instead be included in a separate, new tab on the creator's YouTube channel. Also, Reels won't expire like Snapchat and Instagram Stories. They'll stick around for as long as the creator wants and each creator can have multiple Reels that they can add to as they see fit.
YouTube says that, like Community, it will experiment with beta versions of the feature with a select group of creators first, though there's no word yet on when the beta version will be released or to which creators.