YouTube has introduced creation tools to level up their short-video section Shorts. The company introduced Shorts in India in September 2020 with an aim to provide creators a lightweight and fun way to create and share short-form videos on YouTube. According to the company, YouTube Shorts have an audience of over two billion logged-in users every month.
The video-sharing platform has introduced six new ways to spark imagination and creativity. This includes remixing tools, new effects and stickers, live option, suggestions, an option to save Shorts, and transforming video to Shorts. The first feature, A new way to remix with collab, helps in recording a Short in a side-by-side format with other YouTube or Shorts videos. The creators can choose from multiple layout options and join in with a split screen format. Furthermore, with the feature Green Screen YouTube video or Short can be used as the background for original Shorts. However, another option, Cut, allows you to use a 1-5 second segment from YouTube video or Shorts.
YouTube had already added effects and stickers a few months ago, but now the platform has introduced more stickers such as Q&A, reply to comment with a Shorts with the feature Experiment with new effects and stickers. Next, Go live and get discovered on Shorts feature helps creators getting discovered in the Shorts feed. It also allows viewers to get previews of vertical live videos mixed into Shorts feed. This feature is aimed to help creators connect live with new audiences and build communities. It also has features like super chat, super sticker and channel membership.
Another feature, Streamline your creation with suggestions, bundles the audio and effect from the Short automatically. Under Save Shorts to playlist to find inspiration, the company has introduced an option to save Shorts to playlist. This will help in curating Shorts directly from the Shorts feed.
Additionally, in the upcoming weeks the company will start to test new recomposition tools to help transform horizontal videos into Shorts. With the help of this feature, creators will be able to adjust layout, zoom and crop the video segment. Moreover, split screen will also be available to preserve key parts of long-form content into more engaging and original Shorts.