YouTube Archives - Geeked Out Nomad

All those in the social media realm will have to add another short-form video platform to their repertoire. YouTube Shorts is now available across more than 100 countries globally, including many in the Middle East and North Africa region.

It looks to challenge the meteoric rise of TikTok, and YouTube is in a good position to move on it with the latter’s popularity in the region.

Make you own Shorts

Currently, YouTube Shorts is in beta (clearly visible with the label), so expect them to iron out issues before it’s deemed ready.

Creating a Short is as easy as tapping the “+” icon on the mobile app and then selecting “Create a Short”. Users will have access to additional features that include:

Add text to specific points in your video
Automatically add captions to your Short
Record up to 60 seconds with the Shorts camera
Add clips from your phone’s gallery to add to your recordings made with the Shorts camera
Add basic filters to colour correct your Shorts, with more effects to come in the future

Users will also see a dedicated Shorts navigation tab in the YouTube app on iOS and Android. You can swipe up and down to to view different Shorts when viewing them.

Like a song/audio track you hear in a YouTube Shorts clip? You can click to find the full version of a song and the music video on YouTube.

You can easily search for music tracks when creating a Short

Another TikTok clone?

When Google first launched YouTube Shorts in September 2020, it started first with India. Well timed, especially when India banned TikTok and gave way to both Instagram and YouTube to fill the void.

According to Google, YouTube Shorts has already generated 6.5 billion daily views (based on the 26 markets part of their initial testing rollout).

Expect the number to go increase significantly with the addition of more markets spanning the Middle East and North Africa region. In the future, we can see monetization with ads or other options.

YouTube is already quite popular and also the second largest search engine. It make sense that they’d use their years of video content expertise to tackle the format popularized by TikTok. The biggest selling point is that Shorts is integrated into the wider YouTube ecosystem, especially allowing users to tap into the platform’s music library.

Wherever you are in the Middle East and North Africa region, try it out. You can also check out a Getting Started guide on their support page. Make sure you’ve updated the YouTube app on your iOS or Android smartphone.

P.S: In case you missed the news and you have young children but want to better manage what they watch, YouTube Kids is widely available across the region (including in Arabic)

YouTube Kids is rolling out across 15 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region (inc. Egypt, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon). From the official announcement via Google Arabia blog, this is a great addition for families in the region to control online video viewing for their children.

The app is completely standalone and tailored to children 12 years or younger, filled with content to help families support their children’s exploration and curiosity.

Parents Oversee Viewing Habits

Usign the following features, parents have the ultimate flexibility to control the video viewing activity on YouTube Kids that is right for their children:

Individual Profiles: Create upto 8 profiles considering the different ages, content settings and interests for every child.
Handpick content: ‘Parent Approved content’ mode allows parents to choose individual videos and channels to make available or exclude to their child in the app easily.
Turn off Search: Don’t want your children searching for videos? You can turn off search so that they’re limited to videos from a set of channels.
Built–in timer: Parents can set the integrated timer. YouTube Kids will notify your kids it’s time to get off the app with a friendly “Time’s up” notification.
Block Channels or Content: Parents can choose to block specific channels or content with the click of a button.

Channels and playlists will be organized into categories for children including Learning & Hobbies, Arts & Crafts, YouTubers & Family Vloggers, Music & Dance, Toys & Play and more. Accompanying the regional launch, Google has worked with a range of content creators from the region to be available on YouTube Kids:

El Schoola, an educational channel
Learn with Zakariya
Ahlan Simsim, the Arabic version of Sesame Street
Emirati production Mansour
Content for children from TV channels including Spacetoon, MBC 3, and Majid TV.

Ads on YouTube Kids

To keep the service free for use, YouTube Kids will serve ads. According to a Google spokesperson, this will cover ads that comply with the strict policies and human review guidelines. This will allow limited paid advertisements that are verified as family-friendly. All advertisements will be clearly labelled as ads. They will not include any click through to websites or product purchases.

Want to provide an ad-free experience to your child? Parents need to be paid subscribers to YouTube Premium.

With the expansion of YouTube Kids across the region, this brings the product to a total of 90 countries with the addition of Arabic language support. Since it’s also Ramadan, expect more content to be added during this auspicious time.

You can download the official app from the iOS App Store and/or Google Play store, or access it by visiting the official site.

Geeked Out Nomad

Tag Archives: YouTube

Covering technology, digital, social media, and other related topics in the Middle East and North Africa region till the Indian Subcontinent.