Twitter’s Native Video Player Set for Release in the First Half of 2015

2015 is expected to be a big year for Twitter, as the social networking giant continues to roll out new features and updates. At some point in the first half of 2015, Twitter said it would allow its users to upload native videos to its platform. However, the company has chosen not to reveal any further details about the new feature.

Unfortunately, this led to a slight mix up; TechCrunch erroneously reported on January 2, 2015, that details on Twitter’s soon-to-be-launched native video player had been discovered on a Twitter FAQ page. It turns out that this FAQ page was for the select group of advertisers who use the Twitter Amplify program.

According to the TechCrunch article, Twitter’s upcoming native video player will host up to 10 minutes of media “with no limit on file size”. However, users will not be able to edit or schedule videos for publication (at least not in its first iteration). “And, pointedly, the Twitter Video Player will not support videos hosted on YouTube or anywhere else, just those on its own service.”
Twitter is clearly trying to compete with other social media sites that are dominating the video content and ad space, such as YouTube and Facebook.

Twitter first mentioned the upcoming launch of its own native video player in November 2014. Twitter is also experimenting with an instant, personalized timeline to facilitate the onboarding of new users, as well as a “while you were away feature,” which pins important tweets users have missed to the top of their timelines.

Twitter has been making the most out of its current video offerings, which gives advertisers under the Amplify program, verified users, and publishing partners the ability to upload videos directly to the Twitter site. As Figure 1 above shows, videos can be easily embedded by users to blend seamlessly into the timeline.

According to the Twitter FAQ page, the current video player can support high quality video files like “mp4” and “mov”. On the other hand, volume cannot be controlled, with the only option being to mute the video entirely.

Some companies may not need volume control, but for news outlets like CNBC that rely on dialogue to go with their visuals, it can be problematic if videos do not have any sort of audio control. Many considered this to be a glaring oversight on such a basic video function, and one that Twitter hopefully addresses when it officially begins rolling out its video player to more users.
Look for more on Twitter’s projected big year as this story continues to develop.

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