Twitter is working on a new tool that will make it easier for users to post videos to the social networking site, according to Bloomberg. Currently, to upload videos with tweets or broadcast live from the app, users have to tap on the compose tweet icon then select the camera or live button. The process requires several taps, and Bloomberg says the new camera product will address this by reducing the number of steps. The move falls in line with rival apps like Snapchat, which opens right to the camera, and Instagram, which only requires one swipe or tap to open the camera in the app.
Although Twitter reportedly has a working demo of the camera-centered update, the design is not final, and there’s no indication of when the feature might debut. The report also does not specify whether videos posted would be ephemeral, though viral videos are often part of Twitter’s culture, so disappearing content seems like an unlikely move for the social network.
Twitter’s video strategy has been largely focused on publishers. Over the past year, it formed partnerships with publishers to broadcast live programming, recently adding view counts to embedded videos in tweets. From the user end, however, sharing videos remains less intuitive than Instagram and Snapchat. The company owns Periscope for live video broadcasts, though that app doesn’t allow users to post clips that are pre-recorded. Its Vine app allowed users to post short, six-second clips before shutting down in early last year.