NEW DELHI: Twitter is now focusing on streamlining multimedia content, making it an integral part of its user interface.
The mico-blogging site has rolled out a new platform that will allow users (content providers) to host videos and allow other users to watch it on their iOS and Android smartphones without having to leave the Twitter app. The videos will be displayed in-line along with the tweets.
According to a report by the New York Times, the NBA (National Basketball Association) is the first one to use the feature. Twitter intends to offer this technology to 60 other companies, part of its Amplify video advertising programme, in the coming weeks.
"Video will begin to feel like a native experience," said Kevin Weil, vice-president of product for revenue at Twitter. "We're making it easier for people to do what they want to do."
Since Twitter hosts and manages videos directly from its servers it will be able to speed the playback and control the user experience in a better way, the report adds.
Presently, Twitter displays video links with tweets and even a thumbnail image of the video in card view, when you click on a tweet. However, the video opens in the web browser or another app, barring Vine videos that play within Twitter.
For videos hosted by Twitter, thumbnails will appear in the timeline and videos will play within the native Twitter apps. A number of third party Twitter apps already support this feature even for videos hosted on different platforms.
Twitter had started offering previews of Twitter photos and videos from Vine prominently in Tweets after an update in October 2013. With the rollout of in-line videos, the timeline will become more visual with multimedia content at the front and centre.
Playback of videos will allow content partners to display video ads and leverage them in a better way as users won't be discouraged on clicking the video previews. It will also mean that Twitter users will spend more time inside the Twitter apps. However, media companies that want to drive traffic to their sites will have to be careful while using the feature. Also, we're not sure if Twitter intends to rollout previews for other video hosting services like YouTube and Vimeo.
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