Twitter is bringing full-screen vertical videos to its iOS app, in an attempt to replicate TikTok’s success with the format. The company is attempting to make video discovery easier on its platform, and the new vertical videos will show recommendations upon scroll. The company is also improving video discovery by adding recommendations in its Explore tab, which will appear alongside Tweets and Trends based on users’ interests.
Twitter copies TikTok videos
Twitter’s new immersive video player will show when users tap on videos to expand them. The video will show the number of replies, retweets, and likes, as well as the option to share them. Twitter is also adding a mute button and follow button on the new full-screen video player.
At the bottom of the video player, a message will show users to swipe up for more content. This will simply show other engaging video content for users to scroll through, just like how TikTok works. This format is well known for high engagement so it will be interesting to see how it boosts the billions of combined views that videos on Twitter receive every year.
The new video player will be rolling out over the coming days to Twitter users in English on iOS. The company has not announced a release date for Android.
The Explore tab will also put videos front and center, and show popular and trending videos that may be of interest to the user. This video carousel will be available in select countries on launch, in English on iOS and Android.
Twitter had previously been testing a TikTok-like ‘Quote Tweet with reaction’ feature on iOS.
Twitter is not the first company that has tried to replicate TikTok’s successful vertical video format for its platform. Previously, Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, YouTube, and others have copied the format to varying degrees of success. For user-generated content, most of these platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, have seen TikTok videos being reposted for additional reach and engagement. However, these platforms have also been actively spending money to attract creators to create original content for them.
