Twitter snaps up SnappyTV - wants to be the ultimate social TV service

Twitter snaps up SnappyTV - wants to be the ultimate social TV service
SnappyTV is now part of Twitter

Not content with flooding your feed with Gifs, Twitter has also bought live video service SnappyTV - with the hope that it can make sharing video as seamless as writing 140 characters.

Twitter and television still isn't the perfect fit - spoilers, anyone? - but this hasn't stopped the social network from buying SnappyTV, a service that allows companies to quickly edit and share clips from live broadcasts.


SnappyTV already has deals in place with Fox and the rights to various sports events the world over, but now it is under Twitter's wing there will no doubt be many more broadcasters that want to get into the short-form video action.

Snapped up

Twitter mentions on its blog that it will use SnappyTV to push the fact that it is becoming the best companion service to live events and broadcast media.

So this is definitely a buyout that is more about bolstering its TV business than allowing users to edit quick videos of cats falling over - there's Vine for that.

There's no word on whether Twitter will keep the sharing options that are available through SnappyTV. At the moment, you can upload videos to both YouTube and Facebook.

Given that Twitter is in direct competition with both - this will take users away from YouTube and Facebook is also battling to make TV social - we wouldn't be surprised if this service becomes a Twitter-only thing.

Marc Chacksfield

Marc Chacksfield is the Editor In Chief, Shortlist.com at DC Thomson. He started out life as a movie writer for numerous (now defunct) magazines and soon found himself online - editing a gaggle of gadget sites, including TechRadar, Digital Camera World and Tom's Guide UK. At Shortlist you'll find him mostly writing about movies and tech, so no change there then.