YouTube will pull the plug on Stories on June 26 as the focus deepens in areas like Shorts, Community posts and live videos. Stories is a feature for temporary posts and it was officially launched in 2018 and was given to creators with over 10,000 subscribers. It was probably created to be a way to engage viewers for short periods while working on well-produced videos. YouTube Stories disappear after a set amount of time and creators could use Stories to post updates or behind-the-scenes content.

The disappearance of Stories will allow YouTube to expand access to Community Posts, a text-based updates feature. One is also able to share polls, quizzes, images, and videos as Community Posts, which appear in a tab on channels.

Stories, as a feature, has been incorporated by many companies since Snapchat made it popular. Look at what Facebook and Instagram have done. On the other hand, there are brands that are doing away with Stories-inspired features.

Netflix tried something called ‘Extras’ in its mobile app to share videos and photos from popular shows. It disappeared. LinkedIn got rid of its Stories feature in 2021. Spotify recently introduced a feature that’s like Stories for artistes’ profiles, but the company is focussing more on its new TikTok-like discovery feed.

Creators who use Stories will be alerted to their shutdown via a notification in YouTube Studio and there will be a notification directly in Stories, if creators access the feature prior to June 26.