Twitter CEO Elon Musk said Thursday that the platform’s Blue Subscribers can upload up to 2 hours video, marking the social media company’s foray into long video streaming that is expected to challenge YouTube.
Twitter Blue Verified subscribers can now upload 2 hour videos (8GB)!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 18, 2023
The move is understood to be part of Musk’s efforts to redefine Twitter, increasing the number of users, widening its range of contents – and most of all – implementing his “Everything App” idea.
Twitter said there is no limit to the number of videos you can upload, even if all videos are the maximum length. Under the change, video file size limit for paid users has been increased from 2GB to 8GB. The earlier longer video upload, which was only possible from the web, it’s now also possible through the iOS app.
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The 2 hour video upload is an upgrade from the 60 minutes, 2GB in file size update made in December by Twitter, which was available only on the web at 1080p resolution.
As part of Musk’s efforts to redefine Twitter, he has introduced new features such as raising the character limit to 10 thousand for Twitter Blue subscribers. He also relaunched the Super Follow as subscription, giving content creators the opportunity to monetize their contents at $2.99, $4.99 and $9.99 per month.
With about 400 million monthly users, Twitter is expected to give video-based platforms a run for their money. Already there is a queue of users who want to start their podcast on the platform, including Tucker Carlson, ex Fox News host.
oh snap… Twitter know has playback speed; catching up to modern podcast players/youtube quickly
please add automatic transcripts & downloads to the roadmap @elonmusk https://t.co/8yUpnFpVLB pic.twitter.com/8LD88v1D5h
— @jason (@Jason) May 15, 2023
Musk’s response to this suggestion made by All-in Podcast moderator Jason, who has started uploading podcast videos on Twitter, is; “coming soon.”
Twitter users are expecting further changes in the future that will include payment services. Last month, eToro, a social trading company, announced partnership with Twitter to offer financial services. The partnership will allow Twitter users to access stocks, cryptocurrencies and other financial assets.
However, the flurry of changes happening on Twitter has also stirred a lot criticism, resulting in exodus of advertisers and some users. This has emboldened the belief that Twitter will have to face stiff competition from social media companies such as Mastodon and also Bluesky – recently launched by Twitter cofounder and former CEO Jack Dorsey, in its push to become everything app.
Both Mastodon and Bluesky share similarities with Twitter and have seen uptick in the number of users recently, especially those who disagree with Musk’s method of running the platform.