“Moments” is Twitter’s Most Important New Feature

Apple Music has taste experts to give us recommendations on what to listen to. Snapchat’s Discover gives publishers a unique platform to broadcast their stories. Now, Twitter’s “Moments” is curating the top tweets that Twitter thinks you should be reading.

Photo Courtesy of Slate.Com

What is it?

With 500 million tweets sent each day, even the most steadfast follower can have a hard time keeping up. “Moments” provides users with a quick rundown of the day’s must-read tweets, regardless of whom they follow. According to Twitter’s Blog, the new feature launched on October 5^th gives users, “the best of what’s happening on Twitter in an instant.” Twitter uses trending data, conversation spikes and the editorial judgment of its curators from partners—including Buzzfeed, Getty Images and Vogue—to consolidate noteworthy stories and topics that people are discussing on the platform at any given time.

 

Design:

“Moments” appears as a lightning icon on Twitter’s mobile app and website between the tabs labeled “notifications” and “messages.” Tap it, and you’ll load a compiled selection of the day’s most prominent tweets. If you click on a story, you’ll pull up a page that looks different from Twitter’s usual theme. Each tweet appears as a full-screen photo or video, with the text of the tweet itself substituted as the caption.

You can swipe through various topics—including entertainment, sports, news and fun.

How it works:

• When you click on an individual Moment, you’re taken to an introduction with a title and description.
• Start swiping to dive right into the story, with immersive full-screen images and auto-playing videos, Vines, and GIFs.
• A single tap gives you a fuller view of the Tweet, which you can favorite, re-tweet, and more. A double tap lets you instantly favorite the Tweet.
• A progress bar at the bottom of the page indicates how much more content each Moment has to offer.
• Swiping up or down dismisses the Moment and takes you back to the guide.
• At the end of a Moment, click the share button to Tweet your thoughts, and send it out to your followers.

Conclusion:

“Moments” is a great way to get the platform’s users and non-users to dive deeper into the Twitter world. Even if you aren’t logged in, you can still access moments by visiting Twitter’s homepage. The new feature also provides users with a Facebook  style news feed to keep them updated on the latest hot topics. It’s a welcomed step forward for the platform!