14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter is always playing around with some new feature or another, and this time around, it looks like the company wants to help people add more than just photos to their messages – it wants to help you include videos.
How? Well, exactly as Twitter knows best – with the help of hashtags. So far, the feature is apparently available for iOS users only and only comes up for a few movies, such as A Million Ways to Die in the West or Blended. All you have to do is open up the app and type in the movie’s name with a hashtag in front.
This could be just another way for Twitter to earn more money in the months to come, especially if the feature is expanded to other platforms. So far, however, it does look like the videos are being paid for, but given just how few they are, they’re certainly just the first batch that Twitter promised to try out.
The feature is extremely simple to try. Open the app, type in a new message and add the hashtag #AMillionWaysToDieInTheWest. Immediately, you should see an option to attach a video clip to the tweet.
Once the clip is selected, it will appear beneath the tweet, allowing you to write more content. Since you may not always agree with the videos that Twitter offers to include in your messages, you should be able to hit play and check out the video.
If things are to your liking, you can hit the “Attach” button that appears beneath it and embed it in the tweet. The videos should then be playable by all followers.
As most Twitter experiments, the feature does not work for all iOS users and it will likely be a while before it becomes a permanent fixture to the platform.
The company’s leaders have explained that Twitter employees can test out new features they’re working on on a small number of users without having any type of approval from higher-ups. The data that is collected is then used to assess the wide implementation of the feature if it receives favorable feedback.
While this might just be a test for now, it’s one of those features that are quite likely to make it in the long run, especially since it could bring the company some extra cash, which is always a good thing. As long as Twitter doesn’t start providing videos for all Hollywood movies out there, then everyone should be ok with it.