How to re-use videos on Twitter (and why you should)
Did you know you can repurpose videos on Twitter? And it’s good practice too! Let’s break down the why and how.
Why should you reuse videos on twitter?
There are a number of reasons why you may want to reuse a video. One of the most common examples is when you had a video tweet do pretty well in the past and get a lot of views, and you want to use it again, to keep seeing your total amount of video views go up. This gives an increased perception of popularity to your followers and potentially triggers the Twitter algorithm to think: “This post is hot!”
You could simply Quote Tweet the old one, but more often than not the original message may not have aged well, or you want to talk about something different entirely. In the example above, the game in question had to move the release date to 2022 and Quote Tweeting it will only lead to confusion.
Or perhaps you’re not going to use your own video, but want to repurpose one made by a content creator, publisher or popular media outlet while still giving them proper credit – below the video it will say: “From [accountname]”
How do you get the video URL ?
There are a few ways to get the video URL on PC and mobile, and we’ll list them all here, with their PROs and CONs.
1. Adding a suffix to the original tweet URL (PC & Mobile)
This is the easiest method of all as you simply need to copy the tweet URL and add some extra code the end. Take this example:
https://twitter.com/TrifoxGame/status/1331206096908922880/video/1 By pasting the above URL into your new tweet (at the bottom) and adding “/video/1” at the end, it should work in most scenarios. Should is an important word there though: We’ve noticed on multiple occasions that it sometimes does just result in a Quote Tweet (which we were trying to avoid in the first place) or that another link in the tweet takes preference and instead shows the SEO image for that URL.
PRO: Easiest and quickest method
CON: It’s not 100% reliable
2. Copying the embed code (PC only)
This method will take a few steps, but is 100% reliable. First of all, you’ll need to click on:
… –> Embed Tweet (from the top right corner)
which will take you to a new browser tab.
There will be a Copy Code button present in that new tab and if you paste it into a text editor or the address bar, you can start looking for the part we actually need:
.../IndieWatch?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IndieWatch</a><a href="https://t.co/mI1sQ8UFka">pic.twitter.com/mI1sQ8UFka</a></p>— Trifox(@TrifoxGame) <a href="https://twitter.com/TrifoxGame/status/1331206096908922880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2020</a>...That “pic.twitter.com/mI1sQ8UFka” is the actual video URL location on Twitter’s server, and if you paste it at the bottom of your new tweet, your old video will be there when you post. With your view count saved and ready to start ticking up again!
PRO: 100% reliable
CON: It takes a few extra steps
3. Copy the full original tweet and keep the bottom URL (Mobile only)
On your phone, open the tweet you want to re-use the video from in the Twitter App and hold down your finger on it, which will copy the full tweet, including the URL of the video (it will look different to the pic.twitter one from above though). Simply paste the full-body text into your new tweet and remove all but the bottom-most URL. Type your new tweet above it.
PRO: Quick and easy
CON: It doesn’t work on all phones, some models will not allow you to hold & select all text
Things to keep in mind
A few caveats that are true for all the above methods that you should keep in mind:
- Beware of other links in your tweet. If you use another link in your tweet, pay special attention to the image preview below. If you, for example, paste a link to your Steam Store in the tweet, it’s highly likely that it will try and show your capsule art and make it a clickable card that goes to Steam, instead of your intended video. You can prevent this by letting it load the SEO image preview and clicking the cross in the top right corner to delete it.
- Fewer characters. All the methods above use a link in some form, and links take up 23 characters in a tweet (no matter their actual length). So you won’t have access to the full 280 characters for your tweet.
Twitter Media Studio
One final method we’d like to mention is the use of Twitter Media Studio, which allows you to repost a video you previously uploaded. It’s easy, but getting access to it has proven to be anything but. We don’t know if this will roll out to all Twitter users soon, but it could be one of the benefits included in the Twitter Blue (paid) service. Click here for More Info.
We hope that you’ve learned something new from this Treasure Trove post and if you did, please consider sharing it through any of the options below and help spread the knowledge.
