YouTube encourages creators to make Shorts directly from comments

If one short video app has a feature, everyone else has to have it. That's the rule. The latest episode in this trend is brought to us by YouTube, which introduced a feature for creators to reply to comments on their videos with new Shorts.

"Invite your audience to connect with you via this new feature by answering their questions in your Shorts, taking content requests, reacting to comments in your videos, and whatever else you come up with," the company said in a post.

This could be pretty handy for creators who might want to respond to some fans' comments on a video as a follow-up. Creating a short video to do so is easier and more informal than creating a full video.

Here's how it works:

• If you're a creator, head to your video or a Short and open the comment section.

• Tap reply on the comment you want to respond to.

• Tap on the 'Create a Short'

  

  button to create a short video featuring that comment.

The feature is currently rolling out to all creators on iOS, with YouTube working on bringing it to Android soon. The company is also testing a function to notify fans if a creator features their comment in a Short.

Earlier this year, YouTube said 1.5 billion logged-in users are watching YouTube Shorts every month. “Features like 'reply to a comment with a Short' will give creators more prompts to make more content. This way, fans will also get more content to consume and it will potentially increase YouTube’s overall viewership.”

YouTube is late to the "reply with a short video" party. TikTok introduced this feature back in 2020 and Instagram launched its own version called "Reels Visual Replies" last December.