Is Video Coming to Twitter?

Although Twitter has not confirmed the news, media outlets are reporting that Twitter is considering offering its own video hosting service. Some say the company may have already purchased a video hosting firm named Vine.

Mike Isaac from All Things D kicked off the rumors on Tuesday when he wrote, “Twitter is considering building its own video-hosting technology, according to sources. That means users could upload video directly via the service’s mobile apps, instead of using hosting services like yFrog, TwitVid and Vodpod.”

CNET’s Shara Tibken observed, “The switch would be latest move by Twitter to bring more of its services in house. The company has been making a push in recent months to limit users’ third-party options, both by acquiring popular apps like TweetDeck and by locking out services like TwitPic.”

Later, All Things D’s Peter Kafka and Mike Isaac reported, “If Twitter ends up running its own video service, this should help: The messaging service has bought Vine, a video-sharing start-up. We don’t have terms for the deal, but this looks a lot like an ‘acqhire’: Vine is a three-man company, based in New York, which formed in June. It has yet to launch publicly. (Update: Maybe not a garden-variety acqhire, we’re told. For instance, there’s a possibility that Vine could still live as a standalone service.)”

Shane McGlaun from SlashGear noted, “Vine describes itself as ‘the best way to capture and share video on your iPhone.’ The video sharing service specializes in very short clips spanning only a few seconds each. That would fit in well with twitter, and its hard character limit focused on short messages.”