Twitter may be getting ready to release updated photo and video tools to its platform. Although it hasn’t made an official announcement, speculation is rising after a series of tweets from Taylor Swift, Big Sean, Pharrell and other celebrities during Sunday’s MTV Video Music Awards. Taylor posted a few videos with emojis and stickers – you know – the kind of fun creatives we see regularly on Snapchat. And Lara Cohen, Twitter’s Head of Entertainment Talent eagerly retweeted and highlighted the celebs using the “new photo tools.”
Nothing says 'turnt' like @HaileeSteinfeld
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) August 31, 2015
So what does Twitter have up its sleeve? Is it updating the features of Twitter’s mobile app or is it creating a new standalone app? Given Twitter’s investment in Vine and Periscope it would be a surprising move for it to create a new photo sharing app, but only time will tell.
What we do know is that Twitter is long overdue for competitive changes to its mobile app. Widely criticized for its declining user base and slow revenue growth, Twitter has allowed social media apps that came after it to outpace it. Instagram, released four years after Twitter, at 300 million monthly active users has almost as many monthly active users as Twitter (which has 316 million). With the release of “new” photo tools, maybe Twitter will finally rival other apps as a native photo and video sharing platform.