Business conducted on the internet should move fast, evolve fast, and adapt fast. Or else, they will be blown away by their competitors.
YouTube is the largest video-streaming platform the internet has ever seen. But competing in the world where almost everything is connected, the company that is owned by Google, which is in turn operated by Alphabet, needs to always keep its eyes wide open and ears close to the ground.
TikTok is a much younger platform. But its phenomenal gain and popularity on the social media industry is sending ripples that could even disrupt YouTube.
In order to remain relevant, updates are always necessary, even when the updates are small.
And this time, YouTube has introduced a TikTok-inspired 'Live Rings'.
These little indicators should appear under profiles that are live.
'Live Rings' as the name suggests, consists of a ring with the word "Live" on it.
On YouTube, the Live Rings are shown around a channel's profile picture when they are live streaming.
The feature should make it easier for users to find currently live content as they browse YouTube.
Tapping on the Live Ring will make them jump straight into the live broadcast.
“Really focused on making it easier for users to find live streams on YouTube, so we are rolling out the Live ring feature on mobile. YouTube creators streaming live will now have a ring around the channel avatar and clicking on it will take you directly to the livestream," said Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer, YouTube, said in a statement.
It was Mohan who first delivered the news in a tweet.
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
And just like usual, among internet businesses, copying others' features is not a sin.
This Live Rings feature is clearly a clone of TikTok's pulsing ring effect on channel profiles that are live streaming.
And not just TikTok, as Instagram is also showing colorful rings around profile pictures of users who are live streaming.
All of which, are blatantly copied from Snapchat.
It was Snapchat that originally popularized the 'Story' feature, before practically every other platform out there blatantly copied it.
And this isn't the first time YouTube has revealed a TikTok-inspired feature.
Previously, the company rolled out YouTube Shorts, which is a direct TikTok competitor promoting short-form videos.