Even Uber Eats Now Has Short Videos
Apps like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram offer endless short video content that can keep you hooked for hours. This is exactly what you expect when you open these apps. What you might not expect, however, is to find this type of content when you open the Uber Eats app. But here we are.
The company talked about its new short-form video production venture in an interview with TechCrunch . You’ll see this TikTok-style content when you first launch Uber Eats, as well as throughout the app. It looks like it will work similarly to Instagram, where it will open up a full-fledged vertical player allowing you to scroll through different videos.
However, unlike any of the above-mentioned apps, this content is not simply downloaded and delivered through an algorithm specifically designed for each user. Instead, Uber Eats posts videos straight from the restaurants themselves, showcasing whatever food or service they want. Plus, Uber Eats will only show you videos from restaurants in your immediate area. It’s not entirely clear how close you need to be to the restaurant to get the video, but I think if you’re likely to order Uber Eats for this, you’ll see their video.
Uber Eats wants to make it clear that these videos are not advertisements as the company does not charge restaurants for the privilege. From the restaurant side, it will likely be similar to free video uploads on TikTok or Instagram.
Look, this story initially made me laugh because, come on, even Uber Eats makes short videos now? But I like this approach: it’s a unique opportunity to see only videos from restaurants near you, so you can get a better idea of where you want to order. I already look at pictures of restaurants on Google Maps before deciding whether to try them, so why not add a video demonstration to the mix?
Of course, for those of us who know what we want and just want to get our order, these videos may seem intrusive. I’m not sure if you can disable these videos, but at first I think not. You can’t turn off video in other apps, so I doubt Uber Eats will offer a switch for that either.