Twitter adds video and group direct messages

Mobile users will be able to tweet video straight from the app and send DMs to more than one person

A photo taken on September 11, 2013 shows the logo of social networking website 'Twitter' is displayed on a computer screen in London (Getty Images)

Twitter will allow users to post video from within its apps, and to send direct messages to a group of people.

Video and group DMs were both part of a range of new features announced in November, which have started to arrive on the service.

The Twitter video tool in action (Twitter)

The long-rumoured video tool allows users to capture, edit and share video from within the mobile apps. Just as you can now click on a camera and take a picture before posting it directly to Twitter, an update will allow you to do the same with video.

Uploaded videos will then be hosted within the tweet. They will be previewed as a thumbnail and users can start watching by tapping on them.

Users can also upload videos from the camera roll on iOS. Android users will be given the same feature soon, Twitter said.

Videos can be a maximum of 30 seconds long.

The tool has already been in use for some celebrity and brand accounts, and shows how the embedded videos will work.

Group DMs will allow for conversations with multiple people using the direct messaging feature, which allows users to send private messages to any user that follows them. Users can choose which accounts they want to add to a group chat, which will then send a notification to all of that have been selected.

Twitter has been gradually improving its direct messaging feature. Another of the improvements mentioned in the November announcement, the ability to share a tweet within direct messages, has already been released.

Both features will be rolled out in the coming days. But all users will be able to see direct messages and posted videos straight away.