Twitter may be in the middle of an existential crisis of sorts over where to take its slow-growing social network, but the company keeps plugging away at basic features to bring the service up to speed with competitors like Facebook Messenger. Following the addition of a GIF button earlier today, Twitter says it's now bringing video support to Direct Messages. The feature is rolling out globally to iOS and Android so you'll soon be able to both record and share videos from within Twitter's mobile app, the company says. On twitter.com, you'll be to send videos from within DM threads, but you won't be able to record them directly on the website.
The San Francisco-based company headed up by co-founder Jack Dorsey is facing a steep stock decline and a slowing — by some metrics even declining — user base. To remedy the situation, Twitter has started experimenting with an algorithmic timeline that would place tweets out of chronological order to try and add more value for new users. As The Verge's Walt Mossberg wrote last month, Twitter feels like "secret-handshake software" understood and enjoyed only by power users and industry professionals who use the service for their jobs. A GIF button and a DM video feature don't do much to fix those longstanding issues, but they do bring Twitter up to speed with competing products from Facebook and Google.
Starting today, you can capture & share videos in your Direct Messages. It’s rolling out globally on iOS & Android. pic.twitter.com/b5CgWyTQ3H
— Twitter Support (@Support) February 17, 2016