The Twitter-sphere has grown massively since it first launched, boasting 288 million active users at the end of 2014 Q4, and still growing. Part of its appeal is the brief nature of its tweets (140 characters) and part of it is the real-time feed of everything your followers are saying.
Twitter also offers a direct messaging system that lets users communicate privately with people and companies they are connected to. However, until recently, this feature has been limited to a one-on-one basis. This all changed with Twitter’s introduction of group direct messaging.
Now, you can create private groups that contain up to 20 people in a direct message. Much like the group chat function Facebook introduced quite some time ago, people can add others to a group so that everyone can communicate privately. Users can even be part of a group and send messages when they aren’t following one another.
In addition, the company is unveiling a service that allows users to add video to a message directly from the Twitter app. Officially unveiled by Neil Patrick Harris, Twitter mobile video lets you shoot videos up to 30 seconds long using a mobile video camera. While still brief, these videos are more immersive and expressive than a 140-character tweet.
This feature is currently available for the iPhone, and an Android version is in the works.

These two new features have massive benefits for Twitter’s user base:

It’s much easier for groups to coordinate events without having to broadcast plans publicly. You can also share video of special moments without having to broadcast everything to all your followers on Twitter. It’s a great way to discuss topics with several others without limiting yourself to 140 characters.
One of the most important things that come out of these features is the ability to collaborate in business settings. Many work-related messages are not particularly long, and they can often be expressed more succinctly in video format, as viewers can get a better sense of a person’s tone of voice and nuances in the way they say things. This can make it much easier for distributed work teams to keep up to date and understand what is going on in their projects.
Perhaps no other group of people can benefit from Twitter’s new group messaging and mobile video camera than solo entrepreneurs. Many are already accustomed to working with people who are located in geographically diverse locations, and they are generally highly knowledgeable about new advances in technology. In fact, the vast majority of them are regular Twitter users already.
Solo entrepreneurs are often members of mastermind groups. These are small groups of individuals who work with each other on a long-term basis to encourage one another and provide advice. However, it can often be difficult to get all of the members of a mastermind group in the same place at the same time. Many use Skype, but timing can still be an issue.
With Twitter mobile video, you can stay up to date with your mastermind group without the need to be available in real time. In addition, with the combination of group messaging and mobile video, you can lets clients know you care about their projects and are committed to completing them on schedule.
How can you see utilizing these new features in your business? Tell us in the comments.