Twitter has confirmed it is switching to a full-screen “immersive” video player for watching clips. Additionally, the microblogging network will also offer the now-familiar “swipe up” gesture to facilitate a bottomless pit, commonly called an “endless scroll”, of videos.
Instagram may have recently put brakes on turning into a clone of TikTok, but Twitter seems to have decided to adopt the User Interface (UI) which has now found its way into nearly every social media platform. Although the platform became famous for restricting content to 140 characters, Twitter suggests videos are a huge part of the public conversation. In fact, the microblogging network claims video, is one of the most engaging ways people can express themselves because "videos shared on Twitter receive billions of combined views every year".
With a new “Video Carousel”, Twitter could essentially transform itself into TikTok or Instagram Reels. The “immersive media viewer” feature is currently available to people in select countries using Twitter in English on iOS. The platform has indicated that a similar update for Android could arrive in the "coming weeks".
Twitter is also deploying a dedicated “Explore” tab to help users “discover some of the most popular videos being shared on Twitter”. Twitter is offering the feature on its iOS and Android app.
The rapid adoption of TikTok’s style of content distribution has become a controversial topic. Several users of mainstream social media platforms have openly complained about it. Twitter might be aware that it is taking a risk by offering full-screen videos. The company has indicated users can navigate back to the original tweet using the back arrow in the top left corner of a clip.
Although controversial, it appears Twitter is realigning itself to enter the well-established and insanely popular form of media distribution. The video recommendations on Twitter’s Explore page seem to promote Tweets that contain trailers and teasers of upcoming movies.