Given how high Facebook Video’s daily views have ballooned, and how successful the Periscope livestreaming service has become, it looks like Twitter has plenty of reasons to put more emphasis on its video content.
The company announced today on its blog page that it has acquired Magic Pony Technology, a company that specializes in making novel machine learning techniques for visual processing. Taken to together with previous purchases, including Madbits (in July 2014) and Whetlab (in June 2015), this latest acquisition could build toward a bigger picture for Twitter’s future with video.
The companies will join with the Twitter Cortex group, “dedicated to building a product in which people can easily find new experiences to share and participate in,” according to CEO Jack Dorsey, who wrote the blog entry. The technology from the acquired company “will be used to enhance our strength in live and video and opens up a whole lot of exciting creative possibilities for Twitter,” according to the blog. “Magic Pony’s machine-learning technology will help us build strength into our deep learning teams with world-class talent, so Twitter can continue to be the best place to see what’s happening and why it matters, first.”
However, we probably won’t see these initiatives come into play anytime soon. Twitter will no doubt take its time to establish its video system the right way, rather than trying a “me too” approach in an effort to hop on Facebook’s coattails. When it does debut, Twitter could take the same route as its social media rival and bring in celebrities and superstars to endorse its video features. Or the new features could be tied to the Periscope livestreaming app.
Whatever the case, with all these acquisitions, Twitter is set to make a big move with video. It would be a logical step for the social platform so that it can remain competitive in the growing world of video content.
