Group messages and video capture: Twitter adds new features

Twitter has unveiled two new features on its platform overnight: direct group messaging and mobile video capture.

Group messaging will allow a group of users to chat privately, in the same way two users who follow each other can now talk privately through the current direct message function. But in the new group messaging tool, users won’t need to follow each other in order to chat.

Users will also be able to capture, edit and share videos directly from the Twitter app itself. Videos can be up to 30 seconds in length and will appear in the news feed as a thumbnail you can play with just a tap.

Apart from giving users a handy way to get around the 140-character tweet length, Twitter’s move to incorporate video follows hot on the heels of Facebook’s decision to favour video posts, suggesting business will have to start seriously considering video content.

The new features will be available to users in the coming days.