Twitter rolls out new features, including group direct messages and mobile video experience

Twitter today announced that it would be rolling out a couple of interesting new features .

The new features rolled out by Twitter are group messaging and a new mobile video experience.

The thinking behind the group messaging, Twitter says, is for people who want to continue a public conversation which would begin and die on the timeline, but now with group messaging, it can be continued with a select few in a group.

“Many of you use Direct Messages to reach the people and brands you’re only connected to on Twitter,” Twitter said, “Whatever the case may be, the ability to converse privately with groups gives you more options for how and with whom you communicate on Twitter”.

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The advantage of the group app is that it, unlike the old DM settings where one could not send a DM to a person who does not follow them, allows people who do not follow each other to be able to chat. When someone adds to a group, you will get a notification. It is not clear whether you have the option to decline the invite to a group chat or not.

The other feature that Twitter introduced is the video experience. A feature that moves right into the territory of Instagram, which allows 15 seconds long videos. Tiwtter’s videos duration is longer to that of Instagram by 15 seconds. Introducing the video feature, Twitter insisted on its user-friendly ability, stating that

“In just a few taps you can add a video to unfolding conversations, share your perspective of a live event, and show your everyday moments instantly, without ever having to leave the app. Viewing and playing videos is just as simple: videos are previewed with a thumbnail and you can play them with just one tap”.

iPhone users will be able to upload videos from the camera roll as well, a feature that will be available on our Android app soon.

The first tweet using the video feature was Oscars’ host Neil Patrick Harris. There is nothing to the feature but it means a great deal to Twitter that now its users can shoot and upload videos as tweets.

Check out my Twitter video #Oscar exclusive! I gots me a scoop! pic.twitter.com/SGQ3oJHDqZ

— Neil Patrick Harris (@ActuallyNPH) January 27, 2015

The social media network has been struggling with growth of late, and it’s even gone so far as to ask people not to post photos to Instagram but to post them directly to it. Late last year, the photo social network overtook it in terms of user numbers, which will have stung considering their comparative ages. The new features could therefore be seen as a bid by Twitter to reinvent itself.