South by Southwest, the film festival turned music showcase turned interactive media roadshow, is in full swing for yet another year. And given that SXSW is where Twitter really took off in 2007—the social media service actually launched many months prior to its debut at the annual Austin, Texas conference that year—it’s fitting that Twitter again chose SXSW as the venue to announce a product update.
Starting Wednesday, users with iOS and Android smartphones will start seeing the new version of the in-app camera show up. It’s the first major camera update since 2016, according to NBC News.
We're updating the Twitter camera over the next few days to make it simpler to use. Capture and share what's happening with a swipe and few taps right from your Home timeline.
But wait, there's more! Your Tweet will also stand out in timelines with our new media-forward layout. Https://t.co/0Ik0KC2UiY
— Support (@Support) March 13, 2019
The updated camera feature is available to all users, making it a part of the core Twitter product experience.
The update makes it easier to quickly snap and share images or videos, according to (TWTR) Twitter vice president of product, Keith Coleman. Open the app, swipe left, and the camera is ready. (It used to take a few clicks to get there.) If a user has geolocation services turned on, the app will suggest relevant hashtags to go along with photos, videos, and live streams.
Whether it’s breaking news 🗞, a bball game 🏀, a festival 🎶, a fave tv show airing 👑, people come to Twitter to see and talk about what’s happening. We keep working to make this better. Https://t.co/281nSOTlpC
— Keith Coleman 🌱😀🙌 (@kcoleman) March 13, 2019
While capturing video, users can toggle from recording to broadcasting live, according to Wired. And the limit for a recorded video length? It’s two minutes and 20 seconds—a total of 140 seconds, just like Twitter’s former character limit.
Correction, Mar. 15: This article has been edited from its original to note that the new camera feature is not in public beta—it’s available to all Twitter users. Also, the video maximum length is two minutes and 20 seconds, not two minutes and 40 seconds, as previously reported.
