TikTok is trialing three-minute videos and people are freaking out

TikTok’s whole thing is easily-digestible videos. As a spiritual successor to Vine and its six-second videos, TikTok allows creators to create videos up to one-minute long. Now, it seems that the company is trialing three-minute-long videos.

According to Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, and multiple people on Twitter, TikTok is giving select creators access to longer videos, a whopping three minutes. There’s no word from TikTok if this is going to be the new normal on the platform, or if it’s simply a test, but users are having mixed reactions and for good reason.

Three-minute videos are a lot for a platform like this. Even minute-long videos can feel like they are overstaying their welcome and increasing that by two minutes is sure to lead to a bunch of boring videos that stop being engaging quickly. I already find myself swiping off of minute-long videos and three-minutes will feel like a whole-ass movie.

This will especially hold true if TikTok continues to keep users from using playback controls. That’s already a pain and not having them available on even longer videos will most certainly keep me, and many other users, from engaging with them.

Users have taken to Twitter to voice their opinions and the results are mixed

https://twitter.com/okaymagsss/status/1331474164557914112

just watched a 3 minute tiktok it felt sinful

— willem daoomf (@ea_henn) November 29, 2020

https://twitter.com/helllajeff/status/1333541382238203905

https://twitter.com/TWLHEMMINGS/status/1331381924900855808

Me filming a 3-minute TikTok dance and not knowing what to do after the first 60 seconds pic.twitter.com/7PumDo2u2C

— Michael Leibel (@leibel) December 2, 2020

For teens today, TikTok going from 60 second videos to 3 minute videos must be like how we all felt when we finally got one gigabyte USB flash drives.

— Aaron Levie (@levie) December 2, 2020

tiktok is introducing 3 minute videos and I don't think I like that idea

— Ryan Dandelion (@ryrydandelion) December 2, 2020

While some users seem to be open to the idea, the general consensus, at least on Twitter, is that this is bad and overwhelming and just…no.

What do you think? Do you like the idea of longer TikTok videos? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

Editors’ Recommendations:

• TikTok creators are coughing up more than $1,000 to get their accounts verified
• Surprise, surprise, Snapchat is releasing its own TikTok-like feature called Spotlight
• A bunch of US states could be planning to sue Facebook next week
• Rejoice, the gods of Twitter are going to relaunch its verification system next year

Josiah Motley

Former KnowTechie editor.