Twitter’s trying to give its visible parts extra focus, together with, doubtlessly, a brand new, devoted video tab on consumer profiles, because it continues to re-shape the consumer expertise below Elon Musk.
Elon has repeatedly famous that video wants extra particular enhancement, together with improved monetization choices for creators, which, in his view, might ultimately see Twitter compete with YouTube, by providing direct connection on-platform, and higher advert income share.
If they’ll truly make it work.
First off, Twitter’s within the means of exploring new methods to present media content on user profiles, which might assist to reinforce the video expertise.
As you’ll be able to see on this instance, shared by Twitter designer Andrea Conway, Twitter’s trying to replace the show of the Media tab on consumer profiles to a extra Instagram-like grid, which might make it a extra partaking expertise.
That additionally leads into the video tab thought, which Musk has famous is coming quickly.
A separate in-app tab for movies might then be the subsequent step, with a TikTok-like stream of video content material, that customers can simply scroll by means of, showcasing the most effective of Twitter’s video uploads in real-time.
Which Twitter has explored prior to now, another way.
In December 2021, Twitter trialed a full-screen feed for Explore, which put extra emphasis on video content material.
Twitter shelved that experiment earlier than Elon took over, however with a renewed concentrate on video, it might make a comeback – and we’ve already seen that Musk is eager to roll out older ideas and designs, with a view to boosting consumer engagement.
Which additionally results in one other new take a look at – Twitter’s trying to roll out in-line photographs inside longer tweets, which might now by as much as a staggering 10,000 characters in length.
As you’ll be able to see on this instance, Twitter Blue subscribers will quickly be capable of add photographs into their longer tweets, making them extra like weblog posts – and extra like Twitter’s ‘Notes’ long-form possibility which it launched, then shelved, last year.
Which I personally preserve is a greater format for long-form content material within the app, versus the ‘Present Extra’ lengthy tweets. However utilization knowledge will finally inform the story.
The subsequent stage, then, in Twitter’s broader push for internet hosting extra content material is enhanced monetization, which, at current, can be within the type of its recently re-launched Subscriptions option.
Initially referred to as ‘Tremendous Follows’, Twitter’s now trying to get extra customers to offer subscriber-only content material, as a way to assist them monetize their Twitter following.
As a part of this, Twitter’s covering the costs of staff who subscribe to creators in the app to assist construct hype, whereas it’s additionally contemplating a brand new subscriber content preview display, to assist entice your viewers.
That might immediate extra subscribers to enroll – although it’s also price noting that Twitter’s preliminary experiments with Tremendous Follows didn’t counsel that many customers had been overly desirous about paying to subscribe to customers within the app, not less than at that stage.
In Might final yr, eight months after the preliminary launch of Tremendous Follows, Twitter reported that its income from subscriptions and knowledge licensing truly decreased by 31% year-over-year within the interval. Which isn’t particular to Tremendous Follows, however it does counsel that curiosity within the possibility was doubtless very low.
Nonetheless, Elon and Co. stay assured that this can be a key development pathway, and that Twitter can ultimately present higher income potential than YouTube – which pays out over $10 billion a year to creators, on common.
That’s a lofty goal, however perhaps, with these new presentation and engagement choices, Twitter can construct on its potential on this respect.
