Yeah, I’m not sure that this is going to be a massive functional addition, but with the platform’s increasing push towards video content, it could be valuable, in various ways.
According to a new post from X designer Andrea Conway, you’ll soon be able to add timestamp-based links for video clips shared in-stream.
As you can see in this example, timestamp links will enable you to direct viewers to a specific segment of the video clip, with the playback to begin at that point.
Which is helpful when you’re looking to highlight a specific point, though most people just screenshot or clip smaller segments for the same purpose.
Though there are still many posts that refer people to “check out 2:29” and the like, so it may serve a valuable purpose in this respect. But it feels like a pretty minor update, which is one of my main concerns for X moving forward.
Because while the X team has been keen to tout its progress, and its rapid pace of development under Elon Musk, almost all of the new innovations that it’s rolled out since Musk took over at the app had actually been in development long before he wandered into the building carrying a sink and giggling.
Indeed, out of a list of 73 key updates implemented over the past nine months, which the X team recently shared to highlight their efforts, only 12 of them were entirely new.
Most, like Community Notes and Subscriptions, have been tweaked and amplified as part of the new push, but they were in place well before Musk came in. The main new updates of note have been its revamped X Premium verification program, the addition of longer video uploads, the launch of its ad revenue share program, bookmark counts, voice and video calls (still in development), the Highlights tab, and job listings.
But that’s it. There hasn’t been an influx of new ideas for the app that have revolutionized the way that it’s used.
My concern here is that now, the X team has pretty much exhausted its pantry of ideas that the previous Twitter team had shelved. As such, it’ll now be left to its own devices, and thus far, not many of its new projects have either caught on, or been completely finished as yet.
Which is understandable, given that the app has also cut 80% of its staff in that same time period. In this respect, any development at all is a significant achievement, but when we’re getting down to timestamp links as a new announcement, it feels like things could be running a little thin, both on inspiration and resources.
But it’s something, and it could be of more value if X can get more original video content posted to its app, which new chief Yaccarino will be tasked with. But if it’s a sign of developments to come, it seems like X’s rapid pace could be slowing, now that it’s used up everything it already had available.