TikTok revealed on Monday that it is launching a new feature that will increase the maximum upload time from 3 to 10 minutes. Longer material is thought to make TikTok better capable of handling monetization and other aspects more flexibly. This recent step brings to mind Quibi, a streaming site that enabled 10-minute movies but was shut down in December 2020.
In an email statement, a TikTok spokeswoman stated, “We’re always thinking about new ways to offer value to our community and expand the TikTok experience.”
While TikTok expects this to “unleash even more creative possibilities,” competitor social media companies are taking the opposite approach. Following the popularity of TikTok, Meta recently launched Facebook Reels on a worldwide scale. With a 60-second time constraint, it has allowed creators in the United States, Canada, and Mexico to monetize their content in-stream.
In 2020, YouTube launched YouTube Shorts, a short-form video platform with a 60-second upload limit, comparable to Reels. Meanwhile, Snapchat has its own short-form version called Spotlight, which allows users to snap for up to 60 seconds.
According to Matt Navarra, a social media expert from the United Kingdom, TikTok may eliminate duration constraints entirely in the future. He went on to say that the platform has recently received poor press, with “more people seeing TikTok’s as one of the worst platforms for Ukraine/Russia propaganda.” Longer content is seen as a possible solution to the desire for more meaningful coverage in this area.