Google kills off popular YouTube feature

Google has made the decision to kill off a popular Snapchat-style YouTube feature that has been in place since 2017.

Google has killed a popular YouTube feature. Picture: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Google has made the decision to kill off a popular YouTube feature that has been in place since 2017.

The search engine, which owns YouTube, made an announcement to YouTube Help Community this week that YouTube Stories, a Snapchat-style video format, will be axed from June 26.

Google said YouTube creators would not be able to create new YouTube Stories from that date. Stories already up on YouTube will remain up for seven days after they were originally shared.

Google, which owns YouTube, has axed YouTube Stories. Picture: Robyn Beck / AFP

Google said its Community and Shorts were good alternatives for users.

“YouTube Community posts are a great choice if you want to share lightweight updates, start conversations, or promote your YouTube content to your audience,” wrote YouTube community manager Meaghan Sullivan.

“Amongst creators who use both posts and Stories, posts on average drive many times more comments and likes compared to Stories.”

But she said YouTube Shorts remains a good option for short videos.

“YouTube Shorts is the way to go if you want to create short video content or reach a new audience,” she wrote.

“Amongst creators who use both Shorts and Stories, Shorts on average drive many times more subscribers than Stories.”

The feature launched in 2017. Picture: YouTube Community

YouTube Stories launched in 2017 and have similar features to Snapchat, making room for short-form videos that, once posted, remain up for seven days.

The format was originally called YouTube “Reels” before becoming Stories in 2018.

“We want to do even more to give you easy ways to express yourself and engage with fans, so today we’re also unveiling a new feature,” YouTube wrote in 2017.

“Reels are YouTube’s spin on the popular ‘Stories’ format, but designed specifically for YouTube creators.

“We learned that you want the flexibility to create multiple Reels and have them not expire, so we’ll give you those options. We’re also bringing creator-focused features like linking to YouTube videos and YouTube-y stickers.

“Just like we did with Community, we’ll be experimenting with a beta version of Reels to learn and improve the product before expanding to more creators.”

Originally published as Google kills off popular YouTube feature