TikTok has taken the mobile entertainment realm by storm, giving users quick access to short videos, produced purely for entertainment purposes and seemingly for people with short attention spans. Like other similar media offerings, the more you watch, the better the algorithm gets to predict what you’ll enjoy. Now YouTube has hopped aboard the good ship A.D.D. and sailed it into Ritalin bay with YouTube shorts, a competitor to TikTok.
While the ability to record and upload shorts is limited to a couple of regions at the moment, viewing is rolling out far and wide. Interestingly, a lot of the videos are re-broadcast TikTok videos. If you’re in the right region, you can record clips with music, add hyperlapse and slow-mo sections as well as some other general features from YouTube. As shorts roll out further, users will be able to use audio samples from other creators, as well as — if desired — opting out of other users utilising their music.
While there are a number of reasons that TikTok is hugely popular, there are also reasons to not partake in the app. But if you’re already on the Google platform and regular users of YouTube, then YouTube shorts offers entertainment without the downside of TikTok. I can see the attraction and have already lost chunks of time flicking through YouTube shorts.
