Twitter Scrambles For Next Big Feature, Bets On Merging Tweets, Hashtags, Moments (adweek.com)

Twitter is introducing a long requested feature: A better way to discover people, events and trends. The company is introducing Explore, a tab that the company says will be a home for the most popular and relevant content on the platform. From a report: In a blog post today, product designer Angela Lam said the addition will house Trends, Moments, Search and live video. "Over the past year, we've been exploring different ways to make it simpler for people to find and use Trends, Moments, and Search," Lam wrote. "During our research process, people told us that the new Explore tab helped them easily find news, what's trending, and what's popular right now." Explore -- which will begin rolling out for iOS today and for Android within the next few weeks -- is similar to what Twitter has been testing with some users a few months back. The news also comes just a few weeks after CEO Jack Dorsey used his own account to crowdsource suggestions for what users think Twitter could do to improve the experience.

Comments

Translation: more centralized advertising

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

If Twitter follows Facebook's lead, this means redesigning the interface so more paid content is pushed your way, and it becomes harder to actually follow the people you do care about, or non-paid feeds ("those leeches").

I've pretty much quit social media so lemme know it it goes, 'mkay?

Re:Translation: more centralized advertising

[GLMDesigns]

Lots of people use twitter to keep up with political or tech news. I don't know the breakdown between people who keep up / debate events on Twitter and those who post "hey just had pizza at Di Faras".

I think the later type has moved onto Instagram.

You mean the Bots will be better able

[Tulsa_Time]

to manipulate the trends and drive public opinion...

Scope creep.

[jxander]

Stuff like this will be the undoing of twitter.

New features will require a lot of coding, testing, promotion, and tweaking down the line. All of which costs money, which drives more advertisements, and eventually drives people away.

If they had just remained a simple, streamlined service to let people share pithy quips and unironic hashtags, they could easily pay their server costs with a few unobtrusive ads, and remain a relevant (if niche) product for a long time. As it stands, I'll be surprised if they survive another year or two.

Re:Scope creep.

[gnick]

As it stands, I'll be surprised if they survive another year or two.

As long as it's the primary communications conduit for POTUS, I don't think it's going any where. That's the only reason I use it.

Re:Scope creep.

[religionofpeas]

They could also go the other way. Right now, the company has 3860 staff and 35+ offices around the world, which sound a bit extensive for maintenance of a simple messaging system. Get rid of most of the people and offices, and keep doing simple stuff.

Re:Best feature they could get

[WillAffleckUW]

Agreed, need more punching of nazis

Wrong approach

[phantomfive]

Instead of going for the next 'big feature' they should focus on small, incremental improvements that make the user experience better. That's the kind of thing that keeps your customer base around and slowly expands it.

Re:Best feature they could get

[squiggleslash]

I actually wish they'd do what you trolls always claim they're doing. Having Trump kicked out of Twitter would, especially based upon the last two months, make the world immeasurably safer.

They need to kick him off, permanently.