Popular video platform YouTube is reportedly seeking to greatly expand its social features with a new section called "Backstage," where users can share photos, polls, links, text posts, and videos to anyone subscribed to their channel (via VentureBeat). According to internal sources at YouTube, Backstage will launch in the fall both on the company's mobile apps and desktop. The initial soft launch will only be for "select popular YouTube accounts" and include "limited features," however.

YouTube's social expansion is believed to be in response to the popularity of services like Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, which are increasingly improving their own video functionality -- particularly Facebook -- and pulling away users from sharing YouTube videos within each network. Posts shared on Backstage will curate in a reverse chronological order, and each user's content will be found next to the "Home" and "Video" tabs within a YouTuber's channel. Backstage posts will also be pushed to every subscription box, similar to any time a new video is posted, "making them highly visible to fans."

youtube logo

Backstage marks a pivotal shift for YouTube, whose sole focus on video and unsuccessful Google+ integration have left the door open for popular users to flock to competing services like Twitter and Facebook in order to better communicate with fans. By introducing new ways for users to converse, Backstage could reverse the historically one-way communication between stars and their fans. Video sharing and watching will remain the primary function of YouTube, but Backstage may help make YouTube a better place to talk about those videos, too.

It's not clear what will be initially available for the select users during Backstage's soft launch, but eventually YouTube wants to enable users to share both traditional videos and "Backstage-only" videos on the service. Although still unconfirmed, this could mean "more intimate" video-sharing abilities between users, potentially even ephemeral posts that disappear, similar to Snapchat and, now, Instagram Stories.

Down the line, the company wants to "spur new types of conversation" on the platform, allowing users to respond to Backstage posts with their own photos, videos, "and other types of comments." These response features are being referred to as "rich replies" by those close to the project. The company's goal is to keep YouTube watchers within its ecosystem to talk about videos, and not defecting to Twitter or Facebook to chat with friends, or even contact their favorite popular YouTuber. It wasn't mentioned whether Backstage would be exclusive to the company's premium paid YouTube Red subscription service or not.

The Backstage news comes at the same time of Apple's reported interest in creating its own video sharing app, with the hope of competing with existing social networks as well. YouTube's concerns undoubtedly stem from Facebook's focus on video, which began with a comment by CEO Mark Zuckerberg earlier in the year, and has expanded into MSQRD integration, an entirely new app, and the testing of autoplay videos with sound in its iOS and Android apps.

Top Rated Comments

SandboxGeneral Avatar
93 months ago
Geez, another social network? These things seem to come and go as quickly as Pokemon Go!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thisisnotmyname Avatar
93 months ago
Can we merge this post with the Apple social network rumor and get all the same comments out of the way at once? :p
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thekeyring Avatar
93 months ago
But ... They *are* a video focused social network?

Next we'll be hearing how Google wants to work on a search engine
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
LordQ Avatar
93 months ago
Geez, another social network? These things seem to come and go as quickly as Pokemon Go!
Oddly, I found out that most of my friends and familty who still use these social networks spend less time engaging with the features, the users, etc. They just enter, scroll, like one or two posts, sigh (very important step) and exit to the next one.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BeefCake 15 Avatar
93 months ago
YouTube already gets used like that kind of with people uploading rants, reactions and arguments on their channel. This will just take all that and box it in a separate category basically.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CarlJ Avatar
93 months ago
But ... They *are* a video focused social network?

Next we'll be hearing how Google wants to work on a search engine
Shhhh! Nobody's supposed to know about Google's search engine project yet!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Multi Display CarPlay 1

All-New Apple CarPlay Launching Later This Year With These 5 New Features

Friday September 29, 2023 11:29 am PDT by
At WWDC 2022 last year, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, personalization options, and more. Apple said the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience would be announced in late 2023, but it has still not shared any additional...
BMW Logo iPhone 15 Pro

Warning: BMW Wireless Charging May Break iPhone 15's Apple Pay Chip

Sunday October 1, 2023 6:14 am PDT by
If you have an iPhone 15 and drive a BMW, it might be best to avoid charging the device with the vehicle's wireless charging pad for now. Over the past week, some BMW owners have complained that their iPhone 15's NFC chip no longer works after charging the device with their vehicle's wireless charging pad, according to comments shared on the MacRumors Forums and X, formerly known as Twitter. ...
iPhone 15 Pro lineup

Apple to Address iPhone 15 Pro Overheating Issue With iOS 17 Update

Saturday September 30, 2023 9:28 am PDT by
Apple plans to release an iOS 17 update to address a bug that may contribute to the reported iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max overheating issue, according to a statement the company shared today with MacRumors and Forbes reporter David Phelan. Apple also says some recent updates to third-party apps have overloaded the system and contributed to the overheating issue. The report notes that...
iphone se 4 modified flag edges

iPhone SE 4 Details: Action Button, USB-C Port, Face ID, and More

Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:34 pm PDT by
Significant changes are expected to arrive with Apple's fourth-generation iPhone SE, in terms of both design and hardware, MacRumors has learned. The iPhone SE 4, known internally under the codename Ghost, is expected to receive a new design derived almost entirely from the base model iPhone 14. According to our sources, the iPhone SE 4 will use a modified version of the iPhone 14 chassis...
iPhone 16 Side Feature

iPhone 16 and 16 Pro: Preliminary Weights and Dimensions

Friday September 29, 2023 12:34 pm PDT by
MacRumors has obtained preliminary information on the weights and dimensions planned for the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. The information corroborates previous reports suggesting that the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max will feature larger displays. iPhone 16 and 16 Plus Current information suggests that the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus will maintain the same...
CarPlay SharePlay

CarPlay Not Working for Some iPhone 15 Users, Possibly Because of USB-C Cables

Friday September 29, 2023 2:27 pm PDT by
CarPlay is not working as expected for some iPhone 15 users, an issue that is likely linked to the transition to USB-C. There are multiple complaints from MacRumors readers and Reddit users who are unable to get CarPlay to work with their new devices. Cable type and available port options are a common theme in the CarPlay reports, with many of the functionality problems linked to USB-A to...
iOS 17

Everything New in iOS 17.1 Beta 1

Wednesday September 27, 2023 1:57 pm PDT by
Just a week after releasing iOS 17, Apple has seeded the first beta of iOS 17.1 to developers. iOS 17.1 adds some features that Apple promised were coming to iOS 17 in the future, plus it refines and improves some existing features. This guide covers everything new in the first iOS 17.1 beta. Apple Music Favorites You can favorite songs, albums, playlists, and artists in the iOS 17.1...