TwitVid evolves to become video-sharing community

Once simply a method of uploading videos to Twitter, TwitVid repositions as a 'more social YouTube'

What once was an easy method to upload video content to Twitter, is now looking to become more of an independent entity that allows people to aggregate and watch online content from various platforms.

TwitVid, a two-year-old video-hosting startup, wants to create a community where people can curate video content that they watch and share with their circle of friends. 

This platform is being completely redesigned so that people can create their own channel and social suggestion system, rather than a search-based layout.

TwitVid has seen great growth over its short existence, with $12 million in funding to build a system that sees 12 million unique monthly visitors and results in 30 million individual video views a month.

CEO and co-founder Mo Al Adham told me that the new TwitVid goal is to be the landing page that people go to in order to consume their video content for the day, wherever the content originated (be it YouTube or Vimeo or TwitVid itself.) Currently TwitVid has an agreement with YouTube so that content from that site can be shared and viewed on its new platform and Adham hopes to add more services in coming months. 

While the service can be used as a streaming service and allow users to auto-play the content in their feed, users can also broadcast a video to the people that follow their activity or channel -- which is essentially like a retweet.

Adham said that the company is not in revenue-generating mode and is currently focused on creating a dependable network filled with peer-approved content. The company is set to launch advertising product a year after this reformatting. 

People positing original content also get the perk of owning the rights to videos they load on the site.

One of the criticisms that TwitVid often has to face is the clear connection that it has with the social microblogging site, Twitter, and Adham is the first to admit that the company has had to work to show its legs apart from the namesake connection.

"We have grown fast and have created a great service independent of Twitter," said Adham. "In the future we may even revisit if calling ourselves TwitVid is a benefit to the company or a limiting factor."

The TwitVid reformatting and partnership with YouTube is a response to the growing need that users have with simplifying their streaming and search for quality content. With more content available online on multiple platforms, it can be time-consuming and frustrating for people to navigate through multiple pages and start various searches to get the videos they will enjoy -- social sharing is one way to streamline this process and go straight to the content that you most want to consume.

YouTube recently launched its efforts to create more channels and original, exclusive content so that users can create a high-quality feed for longer watching on a platform originally designed for 3-4 minute snipits. 

Advertisers and producers are excited by the change in online video consumption habits, the trick now is to create a platform model that serves the consumer, creators and advertisers needs as equally as possible.