YouTube Shorts, a new TikTok-rival, starts rolling out to some users

YouTube Shorts allows users to post videos with audio/music in the background, much like TikTok.

YouTube’s TikTok-rival is expected to launch later this year. But some users already have the feature. (REUTERS)

TikTok's popularity has forced competing social networking companies to launch similar products. Instagram's Reels is one such example. YouTube is now also trying to compete with TikTok with short user generated content, dubbed as Shorts. The feature was reported last week and has now reportedly begun to roll out.

YouTube's Shorts as the name implies allows users to post short videos using short selection of music or audio, very much like TikTok. Right now, there's not much known about how the Shorts will work. For instance, it's not clear how much is the time duration and where the content will appear and be seen to others. Some users have reported varying lengths for the Shorts.

 

I have it now, too, but I haven't changed my language/locale at all. pic.twitter.com/1vxO6cehM0

— Greg Willard (r3pwn) (@r3pwn) April 3, 2020

Shorts isn't the only attempt Google is making at building a TikTok rival. Earlier this year, Google launched Tangi, an app focused on Do it Yourself (DIY) tutorials-like videos.

 

Apparently YT Short refers to videos uploaded by users with a very short duration (like fragments of a song). That YT Short is shown in my play history.)

— I'm just a poor boy. (@Jxvxt) April 3, 2020

"We only focus on DIY and creativity content," Tangi founder, Coco Mao had told TechCrunch. "Our platform's goal is to help people learn to craft, cook and create with quick one-minute videos. We designed Tangi to make it easier for users to find a lot of high-quality how-to videos," she added.

Apart from Shorts and Tangi, Google's YouTube also has Stories format, inspired by Instagram Stories which is inspired by Snapchat Stories.