Twitter updates twitvid - an effort to change the videos on social sites

Twitter has decided to take their video sharing service, known as Twitvid, and take it in a completely new direction. Now, instead of just being a repository for users to upload videos, like Twitpic, it is a complete video sharing platform. Instead of just posting videos you have created, you can share videos from anywhere on the web, such as YouTube, Vimeo and Twitvid, but they hope to expand the service soon.


As you would expect with a service by Twitter, the main idea is to follow users and keep track of their videos. However, where Twitvid differs is in the “subchannels.” These are channels that users can create that can be followed independently of the user’s overall account. If you have a group of friends who are only interested in a certain type of video, you can create a channel, and direct them to follow that channel only.

Twitter is hoping for Twitvid to become a place for users to watch and discuss videos at the same time. They have implemented a system for users comments to appear along with the video, to facilitate discussion.

The end game here is not for Twitter to beat YouTube, because there is no one that can contest them now. Rather, they are hoping for Twitvid to be a place where videos from other services can live in a social setting.