The newly designed Twitter camera interface is the social media company’s feature in a bid to catch up with its competitors who use the Stories feature.
The revamped interface allows you to capture photos, videos and live footage. Just swipe left from your main timeline to launch the camera. You get a location and hashtag overlay and text on a coloured label. The media uploaded in its original aspect ratio, unlike the cropped images you see on your timeline.
See it? Tweet it! Our updated camera is just a swipe away, so you get the shot fast. Rolling out to all of you over the next few days. pic.twitter.com/moOEFO2nQq
— Twitter (@Twitter) March 13, 2019
The revamped Twitter camera is a way of Twitter to get users to shoot more media in an effort to gain new users who might be overwhelmed by the text format.
Tweets posted using this new format won’t be given an algorithmic advantage but may be featured in Twitter’s What’s Happening category in the Explore tab.
How does it work?
Swiping left from your main feed launches the Twitter camera(uses the rear camera by default) which has Snapchat-like interface. There a shutter button you can take photos with when clicked once and when you long press it, you get to record looping videos with a limit of two minutes.
“This is a camera to reach the world and not just your followers”
~ Keith Cole, VP of Product at Twitter.
To live stream, just do a mini-swipe. Worth noting is that the broadcasts now don’t have periscope branding.
Hashtags are then recommended based off of nearby events. You’re allowed to add a wall, location, a caption(280 characters) and a coloured label – you’re given six choices of colour.
The Twitter camera is just focusing on tags as it doesn’t come with other features such as filters, stickers or editing tools. Revamping the Twitter camera interface joins Twitter’s new way of porting features and apps without waiting for them to be perfect enough for its loyal users.
Yesterday, we started giving people access to our prototype app twttr which we're using to test new ideas and get feedback. Putting likes and retweets behind a tap is just an idea to help make conversations easier to read. https://t.co/HTI3ImTYe6
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) March 13, 2019
The new Twitter camera interface isn’t a huge shift in terms of functionality but is a major update to the way we tweet, a sign of how Twitter is catching up with modern trends.
