Long video hypotheses on TikTok: the situation

Change of course in sight for TikTok: the social network dedicated to short films viral videos could, shortly, allow its users to publish long movies. Before changing the rules of the game, however, the platform would like to test the opinions of the public, in order to be sure that the option is in line with the needs of its creators.

Currently, TikTok videos have an average duration of 15 seconds. The social media beloved by young people, particularly short and with greater impact, has so far been based on this format. The videos, in fact, are particularly incisive not only for the contents but also for the brevity that allows you to see several of them in a handful of time. In case of need, however, the platform allows its creators to chain more videos into the stories, thus realizing contents of a maximum total length of 60 seconds, which is up to four times the duration of a single publication.

Long videos on TikTok, the point of the situation

The news of the change to the duration of TikTok videos came with a tweet from Matt Navarra, social media industry expert, who posted a screenshot of the update. From what is learned, the implementation of the new feature would still be in one test phase It is only available to a small group of users.

The main information that emerges, however, appears extremely clear: the will of TikTok is that of extend up to three minutes the duration of his videos. An epochal change, therefore, which could transform the platform into a miniature version of other competitors, already present on the market and with an audience more calibrated on longer-lasting content. Just as competitors launch short videos to appeal to TikTok audiences: YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Shapchat In Evidenza.

At the moment, however, TikTok has not released further information on the matter and therefore it is not possible to predict when the functionality it will be extended to all his identification. Certainly, the desire to rethink one of the cornerstones of the social network, extending the time to three minutes, is evidently strong.

Long videos on TikTok, what changes for creators?

From the point of view of the creators, this move could potentially result in a double-edged sword. In fact, if most current videos run out within seconds, a longer length could push users towards more complex narratives and less incisive than what happens today on TikTok.

However, thanks to a duration of 3 minutes TikTok could also become an excellent platform on which post videos music and movie and TV series trailers.

TikTok and long videos, it's not the first social to change format

Although it is the novelty of the moment, the social network is not the first to change the basic format of publications. In the past, another platform had already done the same, but found a particular appreciation from the public: it is obviously Twitter which doubled the length of its posts in 2017 from 140 to 280 characters, also allowing the concatenation of different posts for more full-bodied content.

Long video hypotheses on TikTok: the situation