【I Am a Plaything】

Even YouTube is I Am a Playthingjumping on the “stories” bandwagon.

The Google-owned video site announced Wednesday that it’s putting its own spin on the slideshow-like format popularized by Snapchat and co-opted by nearly every other social tech company since.

The feature, called Reels, will allow creators to splice together up to 30 seconds of video clips with stickers, filters, music, text, and other design options. (Mashablealso has its own editorial product called Reels, which uses vertical video elements in a similar fashion).

Unlike versions on other platforms, YouTube’s reels won’t expire, and creators are allowed to host more than one at a time.

Google says the idea is to encourage more casual posts for when users may not want to take the time to upload a full video. Reels also allow for embedded links to longer YouTube videos.

The rollout comes as part of a larger push to build a social network of sorts within YouTube. The company also announced that it’s opening Youtube’s “community” tab to all creators with at least 10,000 subscribers. There, channel owners can interact with and update fans with text, photos, polls, and other non-video posts.

A Google spokesperson said Reels will live in yet another tab on a given channel page. They are currently in a beta-testing phase.

The slew of new tools for creators also come as YouTube is facing pushback from some of its biggest creators over what they say is an uneven and opaque crackdown on ads appearing on offensive content. Some have fled to the crowdfunding platform Patreon, which features similar social tools and its own take on “stories.”

YouTube is the latest in a long line of tech companies to offer its own version of the format. Facebook, Instagram, Medium, and a couple dating apps have also copied the popular Snapchat feature.