TikTok Users Can Now Upload Three-Minute Videos, but There's a Catch

Staying stagnant is a surefire way to mess yourself or your business up. There's a reason that artists will go and put out music or performances that are wildly different than what got them successful, and that's because they need to figuratively "break" what they fixed. That way they can have the struggle of fixing what they consciously (or maybe subconsciously) broke in the first place.

It's also why popular apps are constantly adding new features, like TikTok allowing users to record for three minutes. Here's how to do it. 

If you haven't been invited to try it out, then you won't have the option to do so until TikTok has deemed you worthy of uploading longer-form clips. 

Back in December of 2020, social media consultant Matt Navarra stated that the popular short-form video sharing app would be expanding its time limit, and if you scroll through your "For You" page on the app, you may have noticed a few three-minute videos.

Matt even uploaded a screenshot of the "Account Updates" message that lets users know when they've received the ability to record three-minute-long video clips.

"You have early access to uploading videos up to three minutes long on the TikTok app and desktop! To try it out, make sure your app is up-to-date and try uploading a video from your device to the app or tiktok.com," it reads

This feature is still in beta testing, meaning that TikTok could ultimately decide to pull the plug and not let everyone have the ability to record three-minute videos. Developers are probably intently watching the view counts and engagement of these longer-form clips to see if TikTok users are even interested in watching a piece of content that length on their platform.

Metrics have already shown that the "optimum" length of the average TikTok video is slightly less than 16 seconds, with some of the most popular clips being even shorter than that.

Seeing as TikTok is known for these "flash" pieces of entertainment that people endlessly scroll through, it's hard to imagine that many folks are going to be using the three-minute videos option unless TikTok's got another purpose in mind for the new feature.

Now, it's no secret that some of the more popular pieces of content on TikTok are dancing videos.

Are they usually mirthless ones where the "dancers" are focused more on the tie-dye sweatsuits they're wearing or their abs or make-up? Yes. But there are also plenty of other folks who are all about legitimately busting a move, and the ability to record longer-form dance video compilations or even full-blown music videos for artists who are trying to get their songs to go viral on TikTok could eventually prove to be a big move for the platform.

What do you think? Have you ever watched a TikTok that lasts more than a few seconds on the platform? Are you excited about the ability to record and watch more three-minute clips? Or is that what YouTube is for?