Elon Musk recently promised that new Twitter video updates would be coming through thick and fast, and he’s definitely holding true to this, with two new video updates now being rolled out to Twitter users.

First off, Twitter’s long-awaited picture-in-picture (PiP) playback window is now active on all platforms, enabling you to keep viewing a video clip as you scroll through the app.

That’ll make it easier to multitask in-stream, as opposed to, say, watching on your TV screen while also scrolling through tweets. Which could also help Twitter enhance its value as a singular entertainment and information solution, as opposed to being, traditionally, a supplementary element.

I mean, in many cases Twitter’s already the primary source of attention for users throughout the day. But while ‘second-screening’ has been a key trend among Twitter users for years, Twitter has never been able to effectively tap into this behavior, and maximize user engagement based on multiple inputs.

Twitter has tried different ways to integrate video content with tweets, in the hopes of merging the two, and becoming a more ubiquitous single platform.

But while the concept of viewing tweets and streaming content on a single screen does appear to make sense, in general, users have thus far been more aligned with traditional discovery and consumption behaviors, and using Twitter in-between, in ad and game breaks.

If there is a way to merge the two, that could indeed make Twitter a more valuable platform, and picture-in-picture could be one way to make this a reality. And maybe now, users will actually be more receptive to having multiple feeds on screen – especially when you also consider the rise of trends like ‘sludge’ clips on TikTok, which present various moving parts within a single display.

In the past, this may have been overwhelming, given our alignment to singular video feeds being presented to us, via a TV or movie screen. But maybe now, consumption behaviors have shifted enough that users will actually be more open to the PiP display, and it could resonate stronger with Twitter users.

Twitter will certainly be hoping so, given that it’ll be looking to make video content more of a focus under incoming CEO Linda Yaccarino. Yaccarino’s experience is in TV streaming, and it seems that this is the direction that Twitter’s now heading in, with Tucker Carlson’s new Twitter exclusive show set to be the first cab of the rank in this new push.

Becoming more of a hub for all sorts of news and entertainment could be a more viable growth path for Twitter to follow – especially if it can convince news outlets to start broadcasting directly to the app. And with the next US election cycle coming up, that could help to enhance the focus on the platform, and get more users spending more time on the app.

On another front, Twitter’s also now experimenting with a native video download option on the app.

Many users have been requesting this for some time, and again, with Twitter set to put more focus on video content, this could be another valuable addition to its presentation and production pipeline.

In isolation, each of these updates – along with variable playback speed controls and 1080p uploads – may seem relatively minor, while the way in which Twitter’s rolling them out, without fanfare, could also minimize their potential impact. But collectively, Twitter’s making significant investments into improving its video service, which, as noted, looks set to become a key element of the next stage of Elon’s Twitter 2.0 push.

Mummy blogger Constance Hall is considering her next steps after recent court action resulted in her being ordered to pay $15,000 to the creators of her now-defunct website.

The Perth mother-of-seven, best known for her highly publicised Facebook blog with more than one million followers, was taken to court by Annabel and Jody Olward, who designed her website Queens of Constance.

The case, heard in Western Australia’s District Court and which wrapped up on May 19, revolved around a deal made between Ms Hall and the Olward sisters in 2016, whereby they would create her website for free in exchange for a 50/50 split of its advertising revenue.

Judge Christopher Stevenson found while Ms Hall failed to maintain the agreed-upon frequency of blog posts, neither party fully understood the magnitude of the venture.

Ms Hall was ordered to pay the Olward sisters $15,000 in damages, but the court also heard Ms Hall would receive $5250 in a counterclaim.

But how did it get to this point, and how did a self-professed queen, self-confessed bogan, and at times controversial figure, become something of a household name in Australia?

A couple of years before fame came knocking, Ms Hall was a struggling single mother, taking care of four children under the age of five, including newborn twins, and a separation from then-husband Bill Mahon.

The now-39-year-old turned to Facebook as an outlet, creating a page to blog, firing off a quick post to vent, and going about her day.

Constance — or Con for short — built a sizeable following, and had some experience with posts going viral. But “parent sex” would change everything.

“We had ‘parent sex’ yesterday,” wrote Ms Hall on January 5, 2016.

“You know what parent sex is, it’s that 3.5 minutes you get in between changing nappies and making food.”

Hall goes on to describe the quick lovemaking session, with measures taken to make sure her kids are none-the-wiser.

“It’s a pretty romantic scene really, listening to Iggle Piggle in the background, knowing your days are numbered when you here [sic] the ad break.”

The post resonated with Australian parents due to its honesty, its rawness, and its lack of filter: all descriptors that have been attributed to the Constance Hall blog, which exploded in popularity when the media got a hold of the “parent sex” post.

When “parent sex” was posted, her blog had about 250,000 followers. By the end of that year, it had ballooned to a million. And at the time of writing, it has 1.3m Facebook followers.

It was during this time the website fiasco involving the Olward sisters took place.

But two books, a clothing label, Dancing With The Stars appearance, a TEDx talk, charity ambassadorship, the court case, and another baby and two stepchildren later, and the Constance Hall empire continues to grow.

She still finds time to make regular blog posts; her latest musings, posted on Tuesday, explores the competition between women, societal pressures in a patriarchal world, and how it affects the development of teenage girls.

“For all the teenage girls out there, I need you to know something – you will come across bitchiness a lot in your life, but do you really understand why?” she wrote.

“I’m sure a lot of people have said the words ‘she’s just jealous, ignore it’ but I think it’s a bit more complicated then [sic] that.”

Ms Hall is no stranger to criticism, having spoken out in the past about bullying and how her meteoric rise to fame turned her into a polarising figure.

In a 2019 interview with reporter Allison Langdon on 60 Minutes, Ms Hall said she believed “tall poppy syndrome” was to blame.

“I think it’s probably one of the main reasons that everyone hates me, because the following got so big,” she said, and even confessed her thoughts turned to self-harm at her darkest point.

“There was definitely a time where I was just like, it would just be easier to not even be here.

“It was something that sort of swirled around in my head. I’d never felt like that before. I’d never even considered … like that’s terrifying. How could anyone do that, you know?”

“People when they were commenting on my articles, weren’t so much commenting on the content, they were commenting about me,” Ms Hall told Mamamia’s Keryn Donnelly, also in a 2019 interview.

“It became more about me and less about my content.

“The trolls will do anything they can to completely destroy me. And that gets the jugular, that’s what they go for.”

Looking ahead post legal drama, Ms Hall is focusing her efforts on a new podcast.

“So this is happening,” she wrote on a post on May 16, on both her Facebook and Instagram accounts, announcing her latest venture.

“To be Frank with Constance Hall. The podcast that’s been forever in the making.

“Like everything I’m doing this independently, ok to be completely honest. I did pitch it to a network, but they failed to see its commerciality, thinking sponsors won’t take to the rawness of the content.

“Which is kind of a compliment right?”

It’s shaping up to be full of Ms Hall’s unfiltered style, discussions about life, “and some of the truly tapped shit that I find myself rabbit hole googling in the middle of the night.”

However, she doesn’t reveal which network decided to pass on the show.

It’s also yet to have a release date, but Ms Hall assures her followers, which she calls Queens, she will let them know as soon as it’s confirmed.

NCA NewsWire attempted to contact Constance Hall for this article.

Google has announced an expansion of its digital coaches program for SMBs, which provides online marketing advice and assistance, for free, to diverse small businesses across the US.

The program aims to connect SMBs with approved digital coaches from their area, in order to help them navigate the various aspects of getting their business online and maximizing brand awareness.

Originally launched in selected regions back in 2019, Google’s now expanding the program, with new coaches in Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.

As explained by Google:

“Trained in partnership with Main Street America, these new coaches will work with businesses in their home states, with a focus on those that operate in small towns and rural communities. Digital Coaches will offer ongoing workshops on topics designed to help small businesses grow and thrive, including connecting with customers, selling online, and improving productivity – all for free.”

The benefit for Google, of course, is more ad spend, and more focus on improving the details of each businesses listed details, which will enhance Google’s database of businesses, services, and products that it can then highlight in Search.

So it’s free, in direct cost, but there are also clear benefits for Google in providing this education to as many businesses as possible.

Google says that there are now 28 certified Grow with Google Digital Coaches across the US, helping Black and Latinx businesses to maximize their digital presence. Thus far, they’ve helped more than 160,000 small businesses gain new skills, and this new expansion could see that number rise rapidly, easing more businesses into the digital shift.

You can learn more about Grow with Google Digital Coaches, and how to access them, here.