YouTube Stories, Google’s Snapchat clone, is shutting down on June 26

YouTube’s “copy the hot new video site” strategy is coming to an end with a shutdown. This time, “YouTube Stories,” a clone of Snapchat that the company launched in 2017 under the name “Reels” and later changed its name to “YouTube Stories” in 2018, is being discontinued. A YouTube support article subtleties the closure and says that June 26 will be the last day to transfer a story.

YouTube Stories generally had an unusual impression that made it not entirely obvious. It was only available for mobile devices, and when you visited a channel page, a “stories” tab would open, and occasionally, they would appear in your mobile subscription feed. Very much like Snapchat, the recordings auto-erased following seven days. Due to the fact that it stopped the long tail of historical video views, they were an odd choice for creators who typically want to broadcast to a large audience. The auto-delete feature makes it common for channels to have no visible stories at any given time, regardless of the actual use of YouTube Stories.

YouTube, the largest video site in the world, does not have much room for organic growth and instead focuses on cloning any new video sites that could reduce its view time. In 2015, there was YouTube Gaming, a Jerk clone that brought gaming livestreams and another game-driven landing page to YouTube. Although the gaming homepage and the YouTube Gaming app were taken offline in 2019, many YouTube features, such as low-latency livestreams and chat features, are still available.

YouTube took aim at Netflix with YouTube Originals, which saw the company produce big-budget content starring well-known YouTubers or scripted shows in the style of Hollywood. These more expensive videos were only available to subscribers of the ad-free YouTube Premium subscription, which cost $12 per month and was later renamed YouTube Red. YouTube Firsts endured from 2016-2022.

YouTube Shorts, a clone of TikTok, is Google’s latest obsession. Swiping through this format of bite-sized videos geared toward mobile devices is addictive. This one is as yet kicking, and in the event that administration TikTok boycotts at any point get more well known, Google looks prepared to step in right away. Shorts are similar to Stories in that they can include a variety of text and filters but do not automatically expire.