Every time Twitter unveils a new feature to its platform you’ll see a handful of brands and agencies begin to experiment and test its limits.  Over the last week we’ve seen a few new features be unveiled from the platform such as 30-second mobile video capture, which will be a great tool for brands to create quick product how-to’s, celebrate the excitement of in-store events and showcase behind-the-scene footage for their companies.  As well, a group direct messages features was unveiled for users to host a private conversation on the platform with up to 20 accounts – whether they’re direct followers or not.

But there’s another new Twitter feature we’re intrigued by – Twitter’s While You Were Away  recap which is now available on its iOS mobile app and coming soon to its web platform and Android app.  In an attempt to make the platform less intimidating for new users, this feature lets you “catch up” on “your world” to deliver “what you need to know first.” Basically giving content, advertised or not, an extended life which is similar to the Facebook timeline algorithm by showing users a summary of engaging content they might have missed while they were off the platform – while still remaining its real-time nature.

So how do you get included as a “top tweet”? It’s not entirely clear how Twitter picks and chooses which tweets it features in this feed, though presumably it’s an algorithm that serves us content based on metrics such as engagement (retweets or favourites) or other user habits.  Also if your fans are active users of the app – it’s less likely their see this feature and will most-likely appear for users that spend less time on the app.  Nonetheless, we’ll be watching to see how consumer react to this feature and how it evolves.

As Twitter continues to adapt and evolve, we’re looking forward to leveraging the platform to tell brand narratives in a new and creative way. 

Posted by
Katie Boland
on 28/01/2015