At this point, you can’t deny that vertical videos are here to stay, and more platforms are focusing on such content following the success of TikTok. This time, Twitter is the one to follow in the footsteps of the competing social network. The company announced this week that it is now rolling full-screen vertical videos out to iOS users.
Twitter wants to be TikTok with full-screen vertical videos
As the company announced on its blog (via TechCrunch), the new experience aims to make videos more “immersive” and easier to discover. The Twitter app will have a new video section in the Explore tab where users will be able to watch suggested videos based on trends and content that the person might like.
Based on the first screenshots shared by Twitter, the new feature will work in pretty much the same way as TikTok. Once you open a video, it will play vertically in full screen. Users can then skip to the next video simply by swiping up on the screen.
With our new video carousel, you can now easily find more videos you like alongside Tweets and Trends that might interest you. Just open the Explore tab to discover some of the most popular videos being shared on Twitter.
Of course, these videos are associated with a tweet, and users will also be able to tap the screen to see the content of that tweet with quick access to the buttons to reply, retweet, like, and share. According to Twitter, videos have become a “huge part of the public conversation” on the social network. The company says that videos shared on Twitter have “billions of combined views every year.”
The new feature comes as no surprise, as TikTok has been steadily growing each year. Instagram, which was created as a photo-focused social network, has now changed its direction to invest in vertical videos with Instagram Reels. Of course, this has upset many users.
More new features coming to Twitter
In addition to changes to how users watch videos on Twitter, the platform has also been experimenting with some other new features. For example, a small number of users now have access to the number of views of regular tweets – something that was previously only available for videos.
It’s unclear, however, when (or if) this feature will become available to all users. As for the new full-screen vertical videos, Twitter says that iOS users will get the new experience in the coming days.
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Author: Filipe Espósito
Source: 9TO5Google
