Twitter Updates Video Playback in the New Version of TweetDeck

Twitter has added another element to the preview version of the next stage of TweetDeck, which will now enable users to expand and watch video clips from a TweetDeck column as they continue to use the app.

As you can see in this example, now, when you click to play a video clip, it will stay docked at the bottom of your window if you scroll past, so you can keep watching while you check out the latest tweets in your streams.

You’ll also be able to undock the video playback, pin it to another location or dismiss the video, while the playback will also continue even if you switch decks, or remove the column that it came from entirely.

It’s the latest addition to the growing feature base in the updated TweetDeck, which Twitter first launched last July, and is still in invite-only Preview mode.  Selected users in the US, Canada and Australia can access the new format, though you can also get a sense of the new functions by temporarily gaining access by editing the HTML code on the site.

The updated version of the tweet management platform includes improved column creation, ‘Decks’ for building multiple dashboards in the app, updated tweet presentation, so you can see how your tweets will look before they go live, list discovery, DM management and more.

It’s a better-looking, better functioning version of TweetDeck, and given it’s now been in testing for six months, it seems likely that it will soon become the default version of the platform, available to all users.

Though Twitter could also look to monetize it.

I mean, Hootsuite has over 200,000 paying users, and how many of them are utilizing its platform just to schedule tweets? If Twitter went the same route, and charged businesses a small fee for access to TweetDeck, along with additional enhanced tools, and ideally, updated tweet analytics, I suspect many would indeed pay, adding another revenue pathway for the company.

And with Twitter still working on subscription models and other revenue generation options, it could be a more viable pathway than, say, Twitter Blue, which hasn’t become a major winner as yet.

To be clear, Twitter has directly suggested that it might look to monetize TweetDeck, as such, though Twitter Product Chief Kayvon Beykpour, did make this comment on the launch of the TweetDeck Preview test last July:

“Through these tests, we’re exploring how we can give people more customization and control using TweetDeck. We want to get feedback on how we can expand TweetDeck’s offerings for those who use it the most. We’ll take these lessons into account as we explore what TweetDeck could look like within Twitter’s subscription offerings later on. We’ll have more to share soon as we learn from these tests.”

So Twitter has, at the least, considered the potential in this respect, and if it is looking to significantly enhance the tool, and add in advanced analytics, especially following the removal of its Audience Insights element from Twitter Analytics in 2020, then again, I would suggest that many brands would indeed pay.

There are valuable tools that Twitter could build in, based on existing third-party tweet analytics options, which could make it worth any extra cost, and brands would be keen to track more data if it becomes available.

There are no new analytics elements in the TweetDeck Preview as yet, but it does seem like an area of potential as Twitter continues to evolve the tool.