Twitter rolls out video and group messaging

WASHINGTON — Twitter is looking to expand the number of ways users can communicate by introducing two features — in-app video and group messaging.

The video feature enables users to record, edit and upload videos of up to 30 seconds directly to a Twitter timeline. In addition, iPhone users will be able to upload video from the camera roll (the feature will soon be available in the Android app as well).

The new feature raises some questions about Vine, the Twitter-owned video service that lets users record and share six-second videos.

In an interview with Re/Code, Twitter’s Jinen Kamdar says Twitter doesn’t threaten Vine, and that the two products serve different purposes. Kamdar says Vine is for “short-form entertainment,” while “some of the Twitter-use cases like breaking news will become a lot stronger and richer.”

Users will be able to shoot several scenes, rearrange their order and trim them to a maximum of 30 seconds. The finished video is previewed with a thumbnail and can be played with just one tap.

To introduce the feature, the first tweet using the mobile video feature comes from Oscars host Neil Patrick Harris.

In addition, group messaging enables users to have a conversation with several people behind closed doors. It doesn’t matter whether the users you invite don’t follow each other — each will be notified when they’ve been included in a group conversation.

Up to 20 people can be invited to participate in the group message.

Twitter began rolling out the new features Tuesday, and should be available to all users in the next few days.

Both video and group messaging have long been available on Facebook.

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Neal Augenstein

Neal Augenstein has been a reporter at WTOP since 1997. Through the years, Neal has covered many of the crimes and trials that have gripped the region. Neal's been pleased to receive awards over the years for hard news, feature reporting, use of sound and sports.

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