Twitter, shortly after announcing that it would begin testing a better way to display images on its app, is doing the same for YouTube videos. The company announced via its platform that on March 18 it began testing a way for users to watch YouTube videos directly from their timeline, on the iOS app. Usually, when someone adds a link to a tweet that refers to YouTube, clicking on that link will take you to YouTube, which can be “annoying” if you don’t want to leave the app to watch the video.
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Now, you'll be able to scroll and watch videos without losing your place in your Twitter timeline.
Twitter said it is using the YouTube iFrame Player API to test the feature, which will initially be available on iOS in the US, Japan, Canada and Saudi Arabia before rolling out globally. However, the company has not said when it will be available to all users of the platform.
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Twitter announced earlier this month that it would be working on a better media viewing experience on its app, including both sharing and viewing media like photos and videos. With the photo preview test that launched on iOS and Android last week, Twitter now gives users a more accurate preview of how the images they want to share will look.
Twitter also recently announced the ability for users to upload 4K images on Android and iOS.
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These changes tie into Twitter’s recent announcements that it’s working to become a platform that caters to creators. The company said it will soon introduce a new subscription-based service called “Super Follow,” which will allow creators to post content only to Twitter subscribers, such as newsletters, offers, and other “exclusive content.” But to support creators, who often spread their content across social platforms across the internet, Twitter needs to make the process of sharing that content — whether photos, videos, or anything else — seamless and native to the app.
Twitter is likely to announce other updates to its platform in the coming days or weeks.
