Twitter has finally heeded to the wake-up call. After being overtaken by younger rivals (Instagram) recently, the micro blogging site is now leaving no stones unturned to make its service easier to use and more appealing. The result: two new features which will now allow Twitter users to exchange private messages in groups and also allow them to shoot, edit and post 30 second videos directly using the Twitter app.
Twitter, which says its ambition is to build “the largest daily audience in the world,” is hoping to get more people to use the service and to get the people already using the service to engage with it more frequently.
Users of the site could earlier embed videos only by using Vine, the six second video sharing app owned by Twitter and introduced in early 2013. They will now be able to do without using Vine while also being able to embed longer 30 second videos. Site owners, while mentioning that the video tool will be launched in ‘early 2015,’ have not clearly mentioned the exact date of the proposed roll out. Analysts however hope to see it being rolled out in the coming weeks.
This move comes towards making the site more video based, in keeping with the base of social sites shifting from content to video. The move, Twitter hopes, will help it get greater engagement and help widen the user base all over the world. The most popular sites at present, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram all have native video capabilities.
“We think by arming all these people with video, we are going to get some really rich and engaging content in the network every day that users are going to love,” said Jinen Kamdar, a Twitter product director.
Similarly, group messaging is an integral part of other rivals like Facebook and WhatsApp. This means that the site users do not necessarily have to follow each other to be able to have a private chat with them.
Analysts see that new features, greater funds flowing into their advertising network and the company’s outreach to third party software developers could be “potential catalysts” for Twitter having a “Facebook moment” in 2015, Peck said.