Japanese Twitter users offered video service

TwitVideo enables users of Twitter in Japan to upload video and photos via computer and mobile, and can be accessed directly by existing account holders.

According to reports, the application is likely to be made available for the iPhone at a later date, along with a paid account extension for corporate users that will offer customisation and enhanced storage.

Twitter founder Biz Stone recently stated that the company would not introduce its own video hosting service, in response to a report in the UK press suggesting it was considering video as an addition to its site.

Nonetheless, Adrian Roche, digital lead at OgilvyOne Japan, said that TwitVideo was “an attempt to take Twitter to the next level” in the market. “This is a good idea as it amplifies local Twitter penetration. Tweets don’t necessarily have to be constrained to text, so I see this as having interesting potential.”

Roche noted that Japan was something of a testing-ground for Twitter. While Twitter does not officially carry advertising, its Japanese site has featured display ads since its launch alongside Digital Garage last April.

“If TwitVideo succeeds in the market, we will see an evolved, ‘local’ version of Twitter that could become something like Yahoo Japan where the local flavour is rather distant from the global one,” Roche predicted.

Twitter was recently estimated to be worth $1 billion, despite the fact that the site has yet to establish a viable revenue stream. 

The company is understood to be discussing the potential of integrating its real-time search results into Google and Microsoft’s respective search engines.