Twitter Mulls an In-House Video-Hosting Service 
 
 If you want something done right, do it yourself. 
 
 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. 
 
 That potential change would be in line with a number of tweaks the site has made to its applications throughout 2012. Until recently, Twitter also delegated photo hosting to third-party services; Twitter moved that hosting in-house with the most recent app updates. 
 
 Mind you, this doesn’t mean Twitter expects users to start using its homegrown solution for the bulk of the videos people share of the service. It still expects most people to post clips using links from sites like YouTube, Hulu and Vimeo. 
 
 People familiar with Twitter’s thinking say the switch would be a way of further refining Twitter’s consistency and user experience, better shaping how users encounter Twitter content. It’s Twitter’s theme over the past year. (Example: The LinkedIn situation from months ago.) 
 
 While these video services take some of the heavy lifting off of Twitter, they also create difficulties. For one, Twitter has no control over the changes others make to their products. Yet often, Twitter must deal with the fallout when these changes occur. So, say, a third-party Twitter developer screws something up for its users — those users don’t necessarily go to the developer with complaints, but instead take it directly to Twitter. 
 
 I’d imagine, too, that every time Twitter updates one of its clients, it is frustrating to configure the new version to work with a number of outside hosting services. Add in the fact that Twitter has clients across multiple operating systems, and it fast becomes a logistical headache. 
 
 It’s not only about tech problems, but creating better ways to make tweets richer. Over the past few months, Twitter has slowly, increasingly updated the product to be more media-friendly, with full photos, videos and snippets of news articles now viewable from within individual tweets themselves. 
 
 Owning that rich video experience has monetization upside. One source says building a more effective video player could be a way of better enhancing the company’s existing advertising products, namely the promoted suite. 
 
 Look at it this way: If a big brand buys a promoted tweet, the advertiser needs to make that tweet as compelling as possible to get their money’s worth. The better the tweet, the higher the likelihood of click-through or, at minimum, brand awareness. A simpler, more reliable way for partners to host their video makes for a better, media-rich stream. In theory, it’s good for both users and advertisers. 
 
 Who it’s not so good for: These third-party hosting services. Were Twitter to follow through with the plan, this would seriously dampen the number of video uploads these services would receive. Users could still upload video to these third-party services and then add the link in manually, but the loss of official Twitter app integration would sting. 
 
 As of today, it’s not a done deal; Folks inside the company are still hashing out whether to make the change. But if it were to come about, I’d expect it to come quietly in a future product update. 
 
 (Image courtesy of Juan Manuel Romo) ||||| SAN FRANCISCo (Reuters) - Four senior Twitter executives are leaving the media company, CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted late Sunday night, the biggest leadership changes since Dorsey returned as chief executive as he struggles to revive the company’s growth. 
 
 Media head Katie Jacobs Stanton, product head Kevin Weil, the head of the engineering division, Alex Roetter, and HR head Brian “Skip” Schipper will all leave the company, he said. 
 
 Addressing what he called inaccurate press rumors, Dorsey praised the four executives and said he was sad to announce their departures. 
 
 Twitter’s stock has fallen nearly 50 percent since Dorsey’s return last year and is now trading below its IPO price amid concern the company has failed to significantly boost its user base despite a quicker pace of product rollouts under Dorsey. 
 
 On Sunday night Jason Toff, who heads Twitter’s video streaming service, Vine, tweeted that he was also leaving Twitter to join Google to work on virtual reality. Dorsey’s tweet did not mention him. 
 
 In an earnings conference call in October, Dorsey spoke about “hiring and investing in talent” and the need for “bold rethinking.” 
 
 Twitter may announce other executive changes, including the recruitment of a new chief marketing officer, on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter. The company will announce two new board members soon, the person added. 
 
 Dorsey tweeted that Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain will take on additional responsibilities as a result of the departures, including revenue-related product teams and the HR team. 
 
 Chief Technical Officer Adam Messinger will handle the engineering team, he said. 
 
 Weil, Stanton, Schipper and Roetter are among the highest-level departures in recent months, but several executives have left Twitter since co-founder Dorsey stepped in as interim CEO in July. He has since been named Twitter CEO. 
 
 Dorsey, who is also CEO of financial services technology company Square, has yet to lay out a detailed plan of what he wants Twitter to do differently. Dorsey plans a retreat with Twitter executives this week, the source said. 
 
 Weil has been at Twitter since 2009, although he has only served as its product head for about a year. He has often served as a face of the company, speaking at conferences and hinting at new developments on the site, such as a character count that would exceed the current 140-character limit. 
 
 Twitter has shuffled through three product heads since 2014, and Dorsey has played an increasingly large role in product development. 
 
 Stanton joined the company in 2010 and was tasked with growing its audience outside the United States. She previously worked at Google Inc (GOOGL.O) and Yahoo Inc YHOO.O as well as the White House and State Department. 
 
 Twitter, which has just over 300 million users, had its slowest user growth in 2015 and was eclipsed by photo-sharing app Instagram, owned by Facebook Inc (FB.O), which surpassed 400 million users last year. 
 
 Since his return, Dorsey has launched Moments, a product developed by Weil, which showcases Twitter’s best tweets and content, laid off 300 workers and hired former Google executive Omid Kordestani as executive chairman. 
 
 The Twitter logo is shown at its corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California April 28, 2015. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith 
 
 The news of the executive departures was first reported by the technology news site Re/Code. (on.recode.net/1RHgCtc) 
 
 Re/Code also reported on expected board changes, and the New York Times reported the company planned to name the two new board members. (nyti.ms/1UkR96E)
– Twitter is looking into the idea of developing its own video hosting capabilities, so users won't have to turn to third-party services like yFrog, TwitVid, or Vodpod to share their videos with the world, sources tell All Things Digital. While Twitter still expects most users to upload their videos on services like YouTube or Vimeo, it thinks offering its homegrown option will help refine Twitter's user experience. Meanwhile, Twitter co-founder and Executive Chairman Jack Dorsey confirmed that he'd taken a step back from his operational role in the company, but denied a New York Times report that it was because "employees complained that he was difficult to work with." In a Tumblr post, Dorsey said he stepped back because he wanted to spend "the majority of my time with Square, where I'm CEO."