New and interesting news for the YouTube App. From what he announced on Twitter Neal Mohan – Chief Product Officer -, the platform will now have a new icon that will signal when a channel is live streaming. More specifically, it will be a ring with the word “Live” around the image of the channel itself, which users can tap to quickly switch to live. That way, it should make it easier for people to search for content that’s broadcast in real time. Like what already happens on platforms such as Instagram or TikTok.
Really focused making it easier for users to find livestreams on @YouTube so we’re rolling out the Live rings feature on mobile! @YouTubeCreators streaming live will now have a ring around the channel avatar & clicking on the avatar will take you directly to the livestream. pic.twitter.com/QylUbpktum
— Neal Mohan (@nealmohan) February 18, 2022
YouTube: App adds TikTok-style Live icon
“We are very focused on making it easier for users to find live streams on You Tube, so we are rolling out the Live Ring feature on mobile devices. […] The live stream will now have a ring around the channel avatar and clicking on the avatar takes you directly to the live stream “. So Neal Mohan announced the new one Live icon on the YouTube App. An option that will undoubtedly be familiar to you, given that it is already adopted by other platforms. TikTok, for example, uses an icon with the word “Live” to signal that an account is live on the social network. And the same goes for Instagram.
Clearly, given that the function is already known to users, it could not fail to prove to be perfect also for the needs of YouTube. On the other hand, it is certainly not the first time that the platform takes some features from its competitors. A perfect example of this is “Shorts”, the YouTube option that allows users to browse short-length, vertically scrolling videos. In short, the best-known video content app is looking to its Chinese competitor to be able to further retain its audience. And the Live icon, as small as it is, proves it.