Photos and videos now appear in users' feeds without having to click on a link
Twitter became an Internet phenomenon as a tool for posting short text messages, but now it also wants to feature multimedia content more prominently.
Previews of photos and videos will now appear on users' timeline streams, whereas before people had to click on links to see them. The new feature is available on Twitter's iOS and Android apps, as well as on its Web version.
The changes apply only to photos uploaded using Twitter, and to videos created with Twitter's Vine app. People still have to navigate to an outside page to see photos or videos from third-party services.
Users can expand the photos or watch the videos by tapping them on mobile and clicking on them on the desktop.
With this feature, Twitter wants to provide a more media-rich experience for users, and to better compete against big rivals like Instagram and Snapchat. "These rich tweets can bring your followers closer to what's happening," the company said in its announcement.
But the changes also come as Twitter faces pressure to build out its advertising business, as its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange looms.
Video ads constitute a major element of Twitter's advertising business, which generated 85 percent of the company's revenue last year, the company said on its IPO documents. Placing more video and photo content front and center in users' feeds, therefore, could give marketers an added incentive to advertise with Twitter.
Twitter has already partnered with more than a dozen broadcasters and media networks through its Amplify program, which places promotional video content in users' feeds. Some of those partners include Bloomberg TV, A&E and BBC America.
Zach Miners covers social networking, search and general technology news for IDG News Service. Follow Zach on Twitter at @zachminers. Zach's e-mail address is zach_miners@idg.com
Welcome to Launch Marketing Council’s new 3-part series focused on unlocking the secrets of launching brands, products and service by exploring real-life examples from Australia’s marketing elite, in conjunction with the independent agency Five by Five Global.
In early 2020, I had the pleasure of staying at the newly opened Fullerton Hotel in Sydney. It was on this trip I first became aware of the Fullerton’s commitment to brand storytelling.
If you’ve been around advertising long enough, you’ve probably seen (or written) a slide which says: “They won’t remember what you say, they’ll remember how you made them feel.” But it’s wrong. Our understanding of how emotion is used in advertising has been ill informed and poorly applied.
The launch of a new brand, or indeed a rebrand, is a transformation to be greeted with fanfare. So why is it that once the brand has launched, the brand execution phase can also be the moment at which you kill its creativity?
Are you sure they wont start a platform that the cheese is white, pretty sure that is racist
Hite
New brand name for Coon Cheese revealed
Real digital transformation requires reshaping the way the business create value for customers. Achieving this requires that organization...
ravi H
10 lessons Telstra has learnt through its T22 transformation
thanks
Lillian Juliet
How Winedirect has lifted customer recency, frequency and value with a digital overhaul
Having an effective Point of Sale system implemented in your retail store can streamline the transactions and data management activities....
Sheetal Kamble
Jurlique’s move to mobile POS set to enhance customer experience
I too am regularly surprised at how little care a large swathe of consumers take over the sharing and use of their personal data. As a m...
Catherine Stenson
Have customers really changed? - Marketing edge - CMO Australia