Twitter Launched New Video App, Plus No More 140 Character Limit On Tweets As Of September 19
Twitter just launched a new video streaming application for Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Xbox One gaming console.
The new Twitter video app will be available for users with these devices without a Twitter account or a pay-TV subscription, Twitter issued in a statement on Wednesday.
The application will feature video content from a number of companies that partnered with Twitter including the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, according to Fortune.
Users will now be able to stream NFL games as well as other sporting events.
Question: Does @twitter release an AppleTV app tomorrow so that users can watch live NFL games starting on Thursday night? Discuss.
— Chris Ptacek (@chrisptacek) September 13, 2016
Twitter’s announcement comes just a day before the first of 10 NFL Thursday night games. Thursday night’s game featuring the New York Jets and Buffalo Bills will stream on CBS, NFL Network, and Twitter.
Twitter reportedly spent a cool $10 million on the rights and won over Verizon and Amazon according to Mashable.
Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter, has been pushing for Twitter into video, signing deals with several media companies and sports organizations. Some of which include MLB Advanced Media, NBA, Pac 12 Networks, Campus Insiders, Bloomberg News, and a new business startup called Cheddar.
Along with videos, the app will stream tweets, Vines, and Periscopes.
The app Periscope was launched by Twitter for Apple TV last year.
Inside of the new Twitter video streaming app, users will be able to choose to see tweets and videos side by side. The tweets are pulled from any user based on relevant content.
While live streaming content, users will be able to select a video that appears on the stream of tweets.
The timing of the application launch is a disappointment to some Twitter shareholders, such as the president of Jupiter Wealth Strategies.
“It’s great to see Twitter get in bed with giants like Amazon, Microsoft and Apple, however, they need to be more proactive in marketing themselves and new initiatives.”
Twitter declined to share if they are running TV ads around the NFL games.
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Twitter also announced just days earlier that images, photos, GIFs, polls, etc. will no longer count towards Twitter’s 140 character limit, which means longer tweets for Twitter users.
Quoted tweets will also no longer reduce the count of characters.
Twitter is set to make these changes on September 19.
Twitter first made the announcement of plans to stop counting extra media toward the 140-character limit back in May but did not give a date as to when users could expect the change.
Another new adjustment to Twitter’s character count will be that usernames will no longer count when they are at the beginning of reply tweets.
Twitter’s CEO spoke with Verge back in May when the announcement was first made.
“This is the most notable change we’ve made in recent times around conversation in particular, and around giving people the full expressiveness of the 140 characters
“I’m excited to see even more dialog because of this.”
Dorsey has always been a fan of the 140-character tweet limit, which was originally implemented so that the tweets could fit within SMS messages.
Users can expect the character limit to be updated next week and just center around the message — not the media attached to the tweet.
[Featured Image by Bethany Clarke/Getty Images]
