Photo Credit: YouTube
YouTube is rolling out a copycat ‘reply with video’ feature — two years after TikTok debuted theirs.
The latest trend among short video apps has been brought to us by YouTube. To maintain relevancy and keep TikTok from continuing to eat its lunch, YouTube recently introduced a feature enabling creators to reply to comments on their videos with a new Short.
“Invite your audience to connect with you via this new feature by answering their questions in your Shorts, taking content requests, reacting to comments in your videos, and whatever else you come up with,” the company said.
The feature is rolling out for all creators on iOS, with Android support coming soon. The company is also testing a feature to notify fans if a creator features their comment in a Short.
YouTube is undeniably late to the party with this feature, which TikTok rolled out in 2020. Instagram also launched its own version called Reels Visual Replies back in December. Still, YouTube’s Shorts are taking off, with 1.5 billion logged-in users watching Shorts each month. Enabling creators to interact with fans and create more content in new ways will potentially increase YouTube’s overall viewership.
To take advantage of YouTube’s new ‘reply with video’ feature, you’ll first need to be a creator on iOS. Head to a video or a Short you’ve created and open the comment section. Tap reply on the comment you want to respond to, and you should see the Create a Short button.
The rollout of this feature could be handy for YouTube creators who want to respond to a fan’s comment with a follow-up without having to create an entirely new video. As short-form videos continue to grow strong on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, it’s becoming increasingly easy to turn long-form videos into short-form ones or to bypass the need for long-form videos entirely.
YouTube recognizes that more of its existing creators are dabbling in short-form videos alongside their repertoire of long-form videos. The more tools the platform releases to enable its creators to transition to the latest trends seamlessly, the more likely the company will retain its creator base.