Chinese-based video sharing platform, TikTok has announced that it’s expanding the maximum length for uploads to 10 minutes, and it’s rolling out the update globally. The latest update is the largest increase yet after the company recently introduced a three-minute video length in July 2021.
A spokesperson in a statement given to The Verge said, “We’re excited to start rolling out the ability to upload videos that are up to 10 minutes, which we hope would unleash even more creative possibilities for our creators around the world.” The spokesperson further said they introduced longer videos to give their community more time to create and be entertained on the platform.
The company has been pushing longer content for a while now —and now with the 10-minute length, they compete with YouTube. A switch to longer content may hurt the firm by limiting the amount of data it can collect on users’ watching habits, which is what allows it to customize the algorithms it uses to attract users in the first place.
We’ve come to like the platform as a short-video platform, the 60-seconds were good, 3 minutes was better. Now 10 minutes may be a stretch since TikTok’s meteoric rise to popularity was founded on a never-ending stream of short videos tailored to catch users’ attention,
Longer videos on TikTok may help some creators in the topics they create, such as making pancakes, throwbacks to old TV shows, or a documentary on certain topics. But 10-minute videos will require users to sit down and focus on what they’re watching for 10 minutes, instead of mindlessly scrolling through. On the other hand, these longer videos are entirely optional. It’s possible that you won’t see 10-minute TikToks in your feed. You might also choose to help the algorithm filter them out for you by not pausing to watch any of them.
As for Tiktok, these extended videos are a sign that it wants some of its creators to cover topics that can only be explained in relatively long-form videos.
ALSO READ: HOW TIKTOK TOOK OVER THE WORLD
