So, I was really trying to get my videos to do something on Twitter. You know how it is, you put in the effort, you make the video, you think it’s pretty decent, and then… nothing. Just digital tumbleweeds. It was a bit of a head-scratcher for me, to be honest. I was posting stuff that I thought was engaging, but the views, the likes, they just weren’t showing up like I hoped.
I started messing around with different things. Maybe it was the topics? Maybe the time of day I was posting? I tweaked a bunch of stuff. But one thing I kept coming back to was the video length. My early attempts, well, some of them were probably a bit on the long side for Twitter. I’d make these one-minute, sometimes even two-minute clips. I figured, hey, more content, more value, right?
The Big Experimentation Phase
I began to suspect that maybe, just maybe, people on Twitter didn’t have the patience for my mini-documentaries. So, I decided to get a bit more methodical. I started cutting things down. First, I tried aiming for around a minute. Saw a tiny uptick, but nothing major. Then I went for 45 seconds. Still not really hitting the mark. It was a bit frustrating, because I was cutting out stuff I thought was good!
Then, I had a bit of a lightbulb moment, or maybe I just read something somewhere, I can’t quite recall. It was about how ridiculously short attention spans are on fast-paced platforms like Twitter. The idea was that if you don’t grab them in the first few seconds, they’re gone. And the overall length needed to be super concise.
I specifically remember seeing something that suggested the sweet spot was really, really short. Like, between 15 and 30 seconds. My first reaction was, “Seriously? What can I even show or say in that little time?” It felt almost impossible to deliver any real message.
Chopping it Down and Seeing What Happened
But, I was at a point where I was willing to try anything. So, I took one of my existing videos that I thought had good potential. I went back to the editing board and was ruthless. I asked myself, “What’s the absolute core message here?” and cut everything else. It was painful. I managed to get it down to about 22 seconds. It felt incredibly short, almost like a trailer for a trailer.
I uploaded it, not expecting much, to be honest. And then, something actually happened! People were watching it. Well, more people than usual. The likes started to come in, a few retweets. It wasn’t like it went massively viral or anything, but compared to my previous efforts, it was a clear improvement. A big one, actually.
- Initial videos: 1-2 minutes, very low engagement.
- Trimmed videos: Around 45 seconds, slight improvement.
- Super short videos: 15-30 seconds, noticeably better engagement.
So, I repeated the experiment with a few more videos. Kept them all within that tight 15 to 30-second window. And the results were pretty consistent. Shorter was definitely better. It seems obvious now, but it took me a fair bit of trial and error, and frankly, some wasted effort on longer videos, to really get it.
My Takeaway on Twitter Video Length
What I learned from all this is that Twitter is just a different beast. People are scrolling quickly. They want information or entertainment fast. They’re not usually settling in for a long watch. If you can deliver your punchline, your key info, or your cool visual in that short timeframe, you’ve got a much better chance of them actually seeing it and interacting with it. It’s all about being punchy and respecting their fleeting attention. So yeah, for Twitter, short and sweet is the way I go now. It just works better for me.
