Since the global expansion in 2021, YouTube Shorts has become a quite popular feature within the platform and could turn YouTube into a direct competitor of TikTok. As the name implies, YouTube Shorts lets users share short videos with 60 seconds in length. The feature is now only available on mobile platforms. However, it will soon come to tablets and the YouTube web version. Google has released a statement and confirmed that YouTube Shorts is now available on the web (desktop and mobile browsers) and tablets. Also, both Android and iOS tablets are supported. Since many users use desktop and tablet devices to scroll on YouTube, bringing Shorts to these platforms can enhance the visibility of videos, which is good news for content creators. “Over the next few weeks, desktop, tablet, and mobile web viewers will find a Shorts shelf on Home and the Shorts tab on these devices (like you may have seen in the main YouTube app). When viewers find Shorts to watch, they can navigate to the Shorts watch experience where they can swipe vertically from one video to the next to discover more content.” Google noted. Moreover, not supporting tablet devices prevented YouTube Shorts from being available on foldable devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold lineup.
Google adds a new creation tool for Shorts creators
Besides expanding Short videos to tablets and the web, Google also brought a new creation tool for content creators. The new tool allows you to use a 1-5 second segment from any eligible YouTube video or Short to create new original Shorts content. If you are using TikTok, you are probably familiar with such a feature as TikTok has been offering it for a while. To use the “Cut” feature on YouTube videos, you need to tap on ‘Create’ and select ‘Cut’ from the remix options. In the Short videos, you can click the 3-dot menu and then select ‘Cut’ to choose the desired segment. Google stated that the “Cut” feature is coming to iOS devices over the coming weeks. Android users must wait until later this year.
