Videos are already massively important to social networks, and they’re only going to become more so as time goes by, so if Twitter wants to have any kind of relevance in the future, it needs to start stepping up its game. What’s funny is that the company has actually made a couple of significant pushes into the world of video content with Periscope and Vine, but both of them are separate services that do little to help Twitter itself. But don’t worry, the company is far from finished. Yesterday, it added some new features, such as better Periscope integration and support for web uploads, that are most likely precursors to a much bigger push into video content.
Twitter is preparing for a big video push today, enabling Web video uploads, and announcing more pre-roll video ads and tighter Periscope integration. Though Twitter.com is generally regarded as the most powerful version of Twitter, some features come to mobile first, including video. That’s changing today – you can now upload video via the Web interface. Now when you begin a tweet, you can click the ‘Add media’ button to select a video in addition to just photos. And at a conference in New York today, the company said it would soon implement a GIF finder and generator too, in addition to bringing better Periscope integration to your timeline. Note that videos are limited to 512MB, and if over 30 seconds, Twitter will open up a trimming UI. It’s a neat update as Twitter pushes video content more heavily and tries to liven up its timeline, especially as it looks to incite engagement with its new Moments platform. But it’s also a play into what could be a huge source of new revenue: video ads. The company today announced it would be making it easy for marketers to play 6-second ads before professional video content on its platform.
