Twitter is finally taking its full-screen video reply option to the next level with the launch of a live test on iOS that enables users to choose ‘Quote Tweet with Reaction’, allowing them to create a custom, personalized video Tweet response.
Based on the screenshot of the official Tweet, the new option would allow users to add a full-screen video or image to respond to Tweets. The original Tweet will then be embedded in whatever type of visual was used. The option was initially spotted in testing last month, which takes some key elements from one of its retired features, Fleets, repurposing them within the regular Tweet experience.
En-route To Twitter Creators?
Along similar lines, Twitter’s also testing an updated text editor option, enabling users to add more color and vibrance to their comments and Tweets. It’s a rather minor update, but it does help improve Tweet engagement a bit more by adding just a tinge of extra flare.
This puts more focus towards visual and engaging responses, which better aligns with evolving user behaviors, with TikTok essentially popularizing the whole full-screen, visual Feed approach, which other platforms are now slowly incorporating in their formats. Even Twitter is now displaying full-screen images. These latest updates might be a great way to boost interaction and engagement, shifting the behaviors of Twitter users towards more creative and immersive sharing processes.
The main implication is that Twitter is reinventing its core features in response to TikTok’s massive growth. The app is set to hit 1.5 billion users in 2022, effectively making its audience base more than 7x of what Twitter currently has. So while it may seem a bit out of place, considering TikTok’s rising threat, it makes sense why Twitter would suddenly switch gears. However, if Twitter didn’t care about Fleets, why would it care about this? Perhaps the greatest reason to counter that argument lies in the new option’s potential to encourage new forms of Tweet interactions, thus keeping more engagement on Twitter itself, as opposed to re-sharing content on other platforms.
Twitter just really has to try new things, all the more since one of its major goals is to add 50% more users over the next two years. While under the leadership of new CEO Parag Agrawal, who’ll most likely have his ideas about stimulating growth, he did state that he’s committed to achieving the company’s goals while it was still under Jack Dorsey.
The Wrap
It’s a rather long stretch, given that Twitter was only able to add around 12 million more users over the past year, meaning that it needs at least 3x that growth rate to meet its goals. That will likely see it push to try more new things to see what else can stick.
On a positive note, the new creative Tweet options do make more sense than Fleets, which was mostly an add-on to the traditional Tweet experience. The main issue with Fleets was that it took people away from the flow of the main, real-time feed. By incorporating the same functionality within the regular Tweet process, it might make things more appealing.
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