Twitter To Introduce Full Video Uploading And Pre-Loaded Timelines

Twitter has announced a range of new features as it looks to attract more and more users to the microblogging site, including the opportunity to record and share full-length video for the first time.

Users have previously been able to upload short videos to their Twitter feeds through the Vine application, but this has been limited to six seconds. However from early next year, users will be able to upload, edit and share videos to their followers using Vine.

The site will also be introducing instant timelines for new users, populating their feeds with interesting content. When signing up, new users will select a few categories of interest; with Twitter filling in appealing content without the user having to spend time initially searching for accounts to follow.

Video growth

From next week, users will also be able to include tweets in direct messages, meaning they can discuss an individual message privately without having to include a URL.

Following on from the success of Vine, which has seen millions of users sign up and create videos, Twitter also said it has plans to build more standalone apps in the future, although specific product categories are unclear for now

“Everything that happens in the world happens on Twitter, and we’re constantly working to make it easier to create, share, consume and connect to what’s happening right now – whenever and however it’s most convenient for you,” said Kevin Weil, Twitter’s vice president of product.

“Right now, what you see of the 500 million Tweets published every day is based entirely on who you follow, and that’s a great model for many people. But with that many Tweets every day, there’s no way even the most avid Twitter user will find everything that’s relevant to their interests in any particular moment.”

The announcement of the new features comes as Twitter held its annual Analyst Day in San Francisco. Asides from this news, the company was also defiant concerning the size of its userbase as well as the company’s future prospects.

CEO Dick Costolo told analysts that aside from its current membership of 284 million, more than 500 million people each month visit some aspect of Twitter.com without logging into an account.

Of those 500 million visitors, 125 million apparently access Twitter’s homepage but either don’t sign in or leave before creating an account – a potentially massive userbase that the company would like to sign up.

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