Twitter joins the TikTok trend with vertical videos

Video has become very important in social networks. TikTok came like a tornado, causing many other applications to change their strategy so as not to be left behind. Facebook and Instagram are examples of this, since both platforms have vertical videos of all kinds, just like TikTok. The latest to join this trend is Twitter, which is already experimenting with vertical scrolling videos.

As announced on its official blog, Twitter will begin implementing a new way of consuming videos within the social network. The goal is to start showing vertical videos in a short format, in order to encourage content discovery. In summary, all social networks have realized that it is no longer enough to show the content of the contacts themselves, but that what is interesting for the user may be yet to be discovered.

Vertical videos and infinite slide

Twitter is beginning to introduce this novelty through a new “immersive media viewer” that will play videos in a new full-screen view. It will be accessible by tapping/expanding a video in a Tweet, and users will be able to swipe up from any video to discover more content. If you leave the view, you will return to the classic Twitter feed. More videos will also be displayed within the “Explore” tab, where a new carousel of videos will be found along with Tweets of interest under “Videos for you”.

As confirmed by Twitter, this news will begin to reach iOS and Android users in English, but it is expected that it will soon be available to everyone. Remember that the last time Twitter tried to incorporate video content into the platform, it didn’t go well. It was in November 2020 when Twitter launched Fleets, to deactivate it just 8 months later. However, now seems to be the time as interest in the video appears to be higher than ever.

The success of the video on Twitter

Twitter says videos are a big part of the public conversation and are one of the most engaging ways people can express themselves online. They have also detailed that videos shared on Twitter receive billions of combined views each year.