YouTube is continuing its mission to compete with Instagram and TikTok. The platform has announced new features on Shorts, notably including an “Add yours” sticker. That’s right, it seems to be pretty much the same tool that Instagram launched in 2021, and you’ll have seen with prompts like “the most recent photo in your camera roll” or “the first photo of you and your partner.”
In this case, YouTube recommends you create prompts like showing off your dog’s newest trick to “inspire your audience” and spark “a chain reaction of adorable content.” The sticker looks nearly identical to Instagram’s, so if you use it there, it should be an easy transition. This new-to-YouTube sticker should roll out across Shorts over the next few weeks.
YouTube has also announced you can soon add and edit auto-generated captions on Shorts. You can choose between various colors and fonts to make captions blend in better with your videos. Again, you will recognize this from Instagram, but let’s be honest: there’s very little reinventing the wheel on social media these days, so it’s nice to have options regardless of your platform of choice.
Similarly, YouTube is also rolling out a Text to Speech feature on Shorts. The tool lets you add text after recording a Short and then click the “Add voice” icon at the top left of your screen. From there, YouTube provides four voices you can pick from for the narration.
The last update coming to Youtube Shorts is for Android users. Soon, Auto layout will be available on Android, allowing you to track the subject of your video as you create it. You can hear about all of these updates directly from the YouTube team below.
