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Google's Answer To TikTok

Oracle will face a barrage of rivals if U.S. government regulators approve the TikTok “technology partnership” -- for starters, Instagram Reels, Dubsmash, and Triller. Google is now entering the fray with YouTube Shorts.

YouTube on Monday announced the launch of the new short-form video platform. The early version of YouTube Shorts initially launches in India. This is not a surprise, considering the billions of dollars and the resources that Sundar Pichai said Google would contribute to the country.

Marketers can expect nothing short of algorithmic perfection when it comes to recommending videos and serving up ads, whatever that will look like. It not clear where advertising fits into YouTube Shorts or how it will allow creators to monetize the videos.

Shorts will allow creators to upload short-from video clips that are 15 seconds or less in duration, using tools for creators such as multi-segment camera, speed controls and a timer and a countdown feature to record hands-free.

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Music is available through YouTube’s song library. The Shorts creator tools arrived in April, but were officially announced for use in India Monday.

Viewers can find the shorts on YouTube’s home page, through the “What to Watch Next” tab, searching on YouTube, and checking the subscription feeds.

For a better chance of being discovered on the Shorts shelf, YouTube recommends including #Shorts in the video’s title when using the Shorts camera. When users are uploading a short video created somewhere else, they should include #Shorts in the title or description.

YouTube said it will continue to add more features and expand into other countries in the coming months as the company learns from creators what’s required in a tool like this one.

The platform launches on Android, but there are plans to expand to iOS devices and in more countries soon.

Creators also can expect more features in the coming months. 

It’s not difficult to figure out the motive behind YouTube’s foray into short-form video. The company is building a community of the next generation of mobile creators through shorts.

YouTube will highlight the shorts in a row of images on its home page, along with a “watch” experience that allows viewers to swipe vertically from one video to the next and discover other similar short videos.

The algorithms required to serve up similar videos should become an issue for YouTube with access to Google Search technology.

There is no shortage of these platforms, as noted above.

Instagram introduced Reels in August as a new way to create short and entertaining videos for the platform. Creators can record a series of clips by pressing and holding the capture button. Similar to Shorts, Reels offers the ability to search for songs from the Instagram music library, and the platform also allows creators to use their original audio.

There are also augmented reality effects, time and countdown to record hands free, line-up objects from previous clips, as well as the ability to choose the speed of the recording.

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