YouTube’s next Shorts feature continues in its proud tradition of shameless TikTok ripoffs
The biggest social media phenomenon of the 2020s so far has got to be TikTok. The app, originally known as Musical.ly, has brought about the resurgence of the short video format since Vine’s rise and downfall in the previous decade. It has also spawned a plethora of clones and, among them, we haveYouTube Shorts— a section of the site that focuses on videos under a minute. As the platform becomes more popular, Google has made it a point toadd some TikTok-esque creator features. The latest one in that long line? Meet green screen.
As announced by the YouTube team, the new Green Screen feature is the latest way to “remix” a video on YouTube Shorts. You can use it on any existing YouTube video or short as well as a photo or video in your gallery and record yourself peeking through whatever color that’s being keyed out. You can either use or mute the audio from the original source. The end product will be a Short, so it’ll have to be 60 seconds or less.
To try the feature, just head over to Create > Green Screen under any video you’re watching, or look for the option in the 3-dot menu in your Shorts view. It’s on iOS first with Android users getting it in the coming months.
TikTok also has a “green screen” feature for its creators. It doesn’tquitework the same way it does on YouTube as it’s actually a filter you need to use when recording a video rather than a preset. Still, it’s pretty clear where the inspiration came from.
Right now, a big chunk of YouTube Shorts is just TikTok reuploads, so adding creator features to the app could potentially boost the growth of an exclusive community of creators — even if some of those features are also borrowed from TikTok.
The note-taking app I should have used all along
Broader branding hints at wider paid-tier ambitions
Your new browser chrome-panion
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before
Storage upgrades have never been so important
No more excuses
