Twitter's own video has yet to become a reality, but it is expected to finally launch in the first half of 2015. Details of the new video venture were first hinted at by the company in November.
However, much of the new information on the feature has been discovered accidentally by Daniel Raffel, a Twitter user.
While on Twitter, Raffel noticed that the site has an FAQ for the video service found at the https://video.twitter.com URL. Upon gaining access, Raffel noted that Twitter provides a number of answers concerning its upcoming video service except for the date when it will be launched publicly.
"Aside from just watching video more easily on Twitter, you should be able to record, edit and share your own videos natively on Twitter too," said Kevin Weil, vice president of the new Twitter product. "Alongside short looping Vine videos, we think you'll have fun sharing what's happening in your world through native video."
Twitter also talked about the video size limit.
"At this time we do not have a file size limit when uploading," said Twitter. "As such, we are encouraging partners to use the highest resolution source video, to create the most optimal user experience. However, keep in mind that the larger the source file, the longer it will take to upload and process."
Twitter recommends that the source video bitrate should be at least 5000k bits while the audio bitrate is at 128k. The video's "frames per second" should remain unchanged from the original source material.
Users can either immediately send video Tweets to all of their followers or hide them for the purpose of using them solely as part of the advertising campaign of Twitter.
The move to launch its own video service is Twitter's way to keep their users engaged on the site longer. The company is working hard to find formats that will bring both advertisers and viewers onto its platform, aiming to eventually increase their number along the way.
In the beginning, Twitter said that it is supporting videos that are in MP4 and .mov formats. The aspect ratio used should be at 16:9. Likewise, the service will also support .jpg and .png thumbnail uploads.
Twitter also advised users to edit their videos prior to uploading them since there is no available Twitter tool that supports editing.
Given the fact that the ability to include ads in a video is limited to the members of the site's Amplify advertising program, it can be said that the new video service is meant to generate more ad revenue for Twitter. There's also speculation that Twitter wants to get a slice of the online video market now dominated by YouTube.
