YouTube is quietly discontinuing the Stories feature to prioritize other offerings

A popular feature is being dropped on YouTube, the streaming platform announced.

YouTube Stories — videos that expire shortly after they’re uploaded, similar to Snapchat — was discontinued on Friday.

The move allows the platform to focus on other video formats that contain elements of the now-defunct feature, it said.

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“There are many ways to create on YouTube, from community posts to short films to feature length and live content. Stories are being phased out to prioritize these key functions.” YouTube announced on Thursday.

These other video formats have been dubbed “great alternatives” by the platform and are said to “enable valuable connections and conversations with audiences.”

“YouTube community posts are a great choice when you want to share easy updates, start conversations, or promote your YouTube content to your audience,” YouTube said.

“Among creators who use both Posts and Stories, on average, Posts generate many times more comments and likes compared to Stories.”

The community posting feature was recently expanded by YouTube to embody aspects of the now-defunct Stories feature.

Users can now set posts to expire within 24 hours.

There are also editing tools and interaction features like polls, quizzes, filters, and stickers that can be used with the posts.

YouTube Shorts, another YouTube video format, also allows content to be overlaid with text and filters, which can now be “remixed” as well.

“We continue to add more compelling features to the shorts experience and recently introduced the ability to do so Reply to comments with shortssaid YouTube.