Twitter Blue introduces ‘Labs’ to give users early access to new features

Twitter is rolling out a new feature called ‘Labs’ for Twitter Blue, its premium subscription service. Labs will give Twitter Blue subscribers early access to features that Twitter is testing as a part of that bundle, which is currently only available in Canada and Australia.

Now, Labs subscribers now have the ability to upload videos that are up to 10-minutes long from their desktop. Standard users currently only have the option to upload videos that are up to 2 minutes and 20 seconds long. Additionally, iOS users can now swipe to pin their favorite conversations to the top of their direct message inbox.

Twitter says features that are released via Labs may eventually roll out to the rest of Twitter, become a static feature of Twitter Blue, or be scrapped altogether based on feedback it hears from subscribers.

“Labs also provides an opportunity for other internal product teams to submit features, get early quantitative and qualitative data, and then later release to a wider audience. What’s featured in Labs will change as we develop new features,” the company said in a statement.

Twitter had said last month it planned to be more experimental as it released new products, noting that it would share its progress publicly along the way and scrap ideas that didn’t work — as it recently did with Fleets.

“We believe that if we’re not winding things down every once in a while, then we’re not taking big enough bets,” said Twitter Head of Consumer Product Kayvon Beykpour at the time.

In Canada and Australia, a Twitter Blue subscription currently costs $3.49 CAD or $4.49 AUD, respectively. The subscription gives Twitter users access to premium features, including tools to organize bookmarks and an “Undo Tweet” feature, which seems to be the closest thing Twitter will offer in relation to the long-requested “edit” button. Twitter Blue also comes with a reader mode feature.