Twitter Lets You Share Longer Videos & It Has A New App

For all you A-list celebrities and creative influencers out there, Twitter has something brand new just for you. Today, the social networking company launched a standalone app that will help you grow and maintain your Twitter following (in addition to a few other app updates). The new app is called Twitter Engage, and with it, so-called “influential creators” will better be able to see how their tweets perform with detailed analytics. Engage users will also be able to monetize their tweets through the app, so if that’s the kind of thing you do with your 140 characters, it just got a whole lot easier. Lucky you. If you don’t consider yourself an influencer, however, don’t fret. Twitter didn’t forget about you. The company also announced that users will now be able share longer videos. You can kiss that 30-second restriction goodbye — starting today, you can share 140-second videos. Who knows, with that amount of screen time, you actually could become a creative influencer. You can look forward to longer Vine videos in the near future, too. It sounds like the increased video length is a smart move on Twitter’s part, since, according to its press release, in the last six months, video tweets have increased by over 50%. Working with that trend, Twitter also announced it will make finding and viewing videos more straightforward with a new video-discovery interface. Just tap on a video in your timeline to watch it full-screen, along with additional video suggestions. It's not too surprising that Twitter is trying to make itself more video-friendly. Competitor Facebook is doing the exact same thing. Social media apps are basically fighting to become your next TV screen — they want you to plop down with your phone and browse video after video in their apps. Both Engage and longer video support are available today.