by tyler | Jan 24, 2024 | Tech
TikTok is coming for YouTube. The company has been spotted testing the ability for users to upload 30-minute videos, signaling a significant move away from the short-form video format that made it popular. Social media consultant Matt Navarra spotted the new option in the iOS beta version of the app in the U.K. Navarra told TechCrunch that he has heard from some users who are seeing the option in the Android beta version of TikTok as well.
TikTok did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
The company initially rose to popularity for its short-form video format, but has slowly been embracing long-form content. If the new upload limit rolls out widely, TikTok will have come a long way from its original video time limit of 15 seconds. After bumping up the limit from 15 seconds to a minute, TikTok later expanded it to three minutes, and then 10 minutes . TikTok began testing a 15-minute video upload limit a few months ago.
The change puts TikTok in even more direct competition with YouTube. The move indicates that TikTok wants to attract longer-form video creators who normally post content on YouTube.
In the past, TikTok was seen as the platform for short-form content, while YouTube was seen as the home of long-form content, with creators using both platforms to reach viewers. The past few years have blurred the lines between the two video platforms as TikTok embraces longer videos and YouTube adopts shorter videos with Shorts.
As with the previous time limit expansions, the new limit would give creators even more time and flexibility when sharing things like cooking recipes, beauty tutorials, education content and comedy sketches. However, the new 30-minute limit would open up a new type of content that wasn’t possible with the previous time limits, and that is the ability to upload full episodes of TV shows.
Last year, Peacock made episode one of “Killing It” available to watch for free on TikTok, but it was broken up into five parts. With this new 30-minute limit, networks would no longer have to break up an episode into multiple parts, and could instead post entire episodes in one video on TikTok. Networks are already using TikTok to reach viewers, and the new upload time limit could entice them to share content on TikTok.
Of course, we have to consider the side of the viewer. Not everyone wants longer videos on TikTok, especially because most people go to the platform for quick, short videos. There’s already talk about how TikTok is ruining people’s attention spans , so longer videos may not be a welcome addition for some. But, TikTok has been preparing to make longer videos easier to watch, as the company has been testing a horizontal full screen mode in some regions.
Plus, TikTok seems to be aware that not everyone has an appetite for long videos, as it rolled out a feature last year that lets you fast-forward videos by holding down the right-side of a video.
As with any test feature, it’s unknown when or if TikTok plans to launch the 30-minute video upload option widely to all users.
by tyler | Jan 24, 2024 | Tech
TikTok is coming for YouTube. The company has been spotted testing the ability for users to upload 30-minute videos, signaling a significant move away from the short-form video format that made it popular. Social media consultant Matt Navarra spotted the new option in the iOS beta version of the app in the U.K. Navarra told TechCrunch that he has heard from some users who are seeing the option in the Android beta version of TikTok as well.
TikTok did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
The company initially rose to popularity for its short-form video format, but has slowly been embracing long-form content. If the new upload limit rolls out widely, TikTok will have come a long way from its original video time limit of 15 seconds. After bumping up the limit from 15 seconds to a minute, TikTok later expanded it to three minutes, and then 10 minutes . TikTok began testing a 15-minute video upload limit a few months ago.
The change puts TikTok in even more direct competition with YouTube. The move indicates that TikTok wants to attract longer-form video creators who normally post content on YouTube.
In the past, TikTok was seen as the platform for short-form content, while YouTube was seen as the home of long-form content, with creators using both platforms to reach viewers. The past few years have blurred the lines between the two video platforms as TikTok embraces longer videos and YouTube adopts shorter videos with Shorts.
As with the previous time limit expansions, the new limit would give creators even more time and flexibility when sharing things like cooking recipes, beauty tutorials, education content and comedy sketches. However, the new 30-minute limit would open up a new type of content that wasn’t possible with the previous time limits, and that is the ability to upload full episodes of TV shows.
Last year, Peacock made episode one of “Killing It” available to watch for free on TikTok, but it was broken up into five parts. With this new 30-minute limit, networks would no longer have to break up an episode into multiple parts, and could instead post entire episodes in one video on TikTok. Networks are already using TikTok to reach viewers, and the new upload time limit could entice them to share content on TikTok.
Of course, we have to consider the side of the viewer. Not everyone wants longer videos on TikTok, especially because most people go to the platform for quick, short videos. There’s already talk about how TikTok is ruining people’s attention spans , so longer videos may not be a welcome addition for some. But, TikTok has been preparing to make longer videos easier to watch, as the company has been testing a horizontal full screen mode in some regions.
Plus, TikTok seems to be aware that not everyone has an appetite for long videos, as it rolled out a feature last year that lets you fast-forward videos by holding down the right-side of a video.
As with any test feature, it’s unknown when or if TikTok plans to launch the 30-minute video upload option widely to all users.
by tyler | Jan 8, 2024 | Tech
YouTube is updating its harassment and cyberbullying policies to clamp down on content that “realistically simulates” deceased minors or victims of deadly or violent events describing their death. The Google-owned platform says it will begin striking such content starting on January 16.
The policy change comes as some true crime content creators have been using AI to recreate the likeness of deceased or missing children. In these disturbing instances, people are using AI to give these child victims of high-profile cases a childlike “voice” to describe their deaths.
In recent months, content creators have used AI to narrate numerous high-profile cases, including the abduction and death of British two-year-old James Bulger, as reported by The Washington Post . There are also similar AI narrations about Madeleine McCann, a British three-year-old who disappeared from a resort, and Gabriel Fernández, an eight-year-old boy who was tortured and murdered by his mother and her boyfriend in California.
YouTube will remove content that violates the new polices, and users who receive a strike will be unable to upload videos, livestreams or stories for one week. After three strikes, the user’s channel will be permanently removed from YouTube.
The new changes come nearly two months after YouTube introduced new policies surrounding responsible disclosures for AI content, along with new tools to request the removal of deepfakes. One of the changes requires users to disclose when they’ve created altered or synthetic content that appears realistic. The company warned that users who failed to properly disclose their use of AI will be subject to “content removal, suspension from the YouTube Partner Program, or other penalties.”
In addition, YouTube noted at the time that some AI content may be removed if it’s used to show “realistic violence,” even if it’s labeled.
In September 2023, TikTok launched a tool to allow creators to label their AI-generated content after the social app updated its guidelines to require creators to disclose when they are posting synthetic or manipulated media that shows realistic scenes. TikTok’s policy allows it to take down realistic AI images that aren’t disclosed.
YouTube adapts its policies for the coming surge of AI videos
by tyler | Dec 12, 2023 | Tech
Google launched today a new feature for Classroom that allows teachers to turn any YouTube video into an interactive assignment by inserting questions for their students to answer throughout the viewing experience.
With the interactive questions feature, teachers can create open-ended or multiple-choice questions, provide feedback on answers and access a dashboard of key insights to keep track of their students’ progress. Meanwhile, students get to view which responses were incorrect and rewatch the video to learn from their mistakes.
Image Credits: Google
Image Credits: Google
With over 150 million users on Google Classroom, the education-friendly platform has long established itself as a useful resource for teachers to communicate with students and manage their classes. Plus, YouTube has become a go-to destination for educational videos, so the new interactive questions feature will likely be a popular tool among users.
“While interactive YouTube video assignments will be beneficial to students, it will also help educators identify concepts that need more instruction time, discover students who may need extra support and also shape future lesson plans,” Google wrote in today’s blog post.
The interactive questions feature has been available in beta since March. It will be fully rolled out in the next three days and is only available for users with the Education Plus plan or the Teaching and Learning upgrade. The feature can be enabled by administrators through the admin console.
In other news, Google recently announced that its Bard AI chatbot can now answer specific questions about YouTube videos.
Google Chrome and Classroom add new features for educators and students, including ‘reading mode’
by tyler | Dec 11, 2023 | Tech
Strava has finally announced who its next CEO will be, almost a year after confirming that co-founder Michael Horvath was leaving the hotseat for a second time .
Michael Martin will start his new role at Strava on January 2, 2024, leaving his current role as general manager at YouTube’s shopping unit . Martin previously served in technology roles at Nike, NBCUniversal Media, and Disney.
Horvath co-founded Strava alongside Mark Gainey back in 2009, with Gainey initially serving as CEO before passing the reins to Horvath who led the company until 2013 when he left for family reasons . Gainey then became CEO until 2017, when he was replaced by Instagram executive James Quarles — then Horvath returned as CEO in 2019 , with Gainey in tow as executive chairman.
When he revealed last year that he would leaving for a second time, Horvath simply said that he felt the company needed someone different to spearhead the next phase of its growth. “As co-founder and CEO, it’s only part of my job to ensure we are picking the right path to that destination,” he said at the time. “The other part of it is to ensure we always recruit and support the right leaders for the right times.”
Strava’s new CEO Michael Martin Image Credits : Strava
Strava’s new CEO Michael Martin Image Credits : Strava
The fourteen-year-old company has emerged as the de facto activity-tracking platform for millions, allowing users to record and share all their rides and runs with friends around the world. Strava saw significant growth through the global pandemic, leading to its $110 million Series F round of funding in late 2020, since when it says it has grown from 70 million members to north of 120 million today.
However, like all VC-backed companies, the time is fast coming when Strava needs to realise some sort of return for its investors, be that a sale to a bigger company or an IPO. Either outcome requires Strava to be in as strong a position as possible, which is why it has been trying to bolster its platform over the past year — it acquired 3D mapping platform Fatmap in January , which now provides 3D video flyovers of users’ GPS routes directly inside the Strava app.
And last week, Strava went all-in on the social network concept when it launched in-app messaging , designed to encourage users to do all their organizing within Strava itself.
But in amongst all that, Strava introduced a confusing and inconsistent pricing upgrade , with a typical U.S. customer seeing their annual subscription jump from $60 to $80 a month, and the monthly fee rising from $8 to $12 — a substantial 50% hike, one that caused consternation in the Strava community.
So on the outside, it seems that Strava has been struggling to capitalize on its recent growth even though it has sought ways to make more money from its users. And this, perhaps, is where Martin enters the fray — at YouTube he is focused on helping creators “build and diversify their businesses through commerce,” so it’s not all the inconceivable that Strava could be looking to diversify its revenue beyond selling subscriptions or data and insights . The free version of Strava is sufficient for most people, so figuring out ways to make money from that contingent, be it advertising, affiliate partnerships, or some other means could be the way forward under the new leadership.
When Martin joins in early January, he will also take up a seat on the board alongside the likes of Gainey and Spotify exec Gustav Gyllenhammar . Horvath will also apparently stay on for the time being as an “executive advisor to the CEO.”
“I am incredibly proud of what the Strava team has accomplished, especially during the past four years during which we built our subscription with the needs of our community in mind and strengthened our foundation for future growth,” said Michael Horvath, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer. “In Michael Martin, I am confident we found a leader I can pass the baton to and who can build Strava’s momentum even further. I look forward to supporting him as Executive Advisor to the CEO.”
