If you’ve been on Twitter recently, you might have noticed a new little tab, adorned with a lightning bolt, situated between your notifications and messages. It’s Twitter’s new Moments feature, and it’s here to help give Twitter its identity.
For years, Twitter has been searching for what it does for the world and, more importantly, how Twitter can make money with the service it provides. Twitter’s new Moments feature is an attempt to brand Twitter as an instantaneous news source for the world, a way for you to sort the important news-related tweets from the junk.
Twitter has special content curators to decide what goes on Moments. According to Twitter’s Moment’s Curation Policy, these curators “organize and present compelling content that already exists on Twitter in a straight ward, easy-to-consume way.” The curators will exclude tweets that invade individual’s privacy, encourage illegal activities, exploit minors or make Twitter the focus on the story.
The Twitter reactions were… mixed.
https://twitter.com/OZtrey1/status/651414991459844096
I just checked out Twitter Moments for the first time, and by golly is my MIND TOTALLY BLOWN
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) October 6, 2015
I always thought Twitter Moments were like Senior Moments. Like when you can't remember that great tweet you thought of 5 minutes ago.
— Arthur Albert (@ArthurAlbertTV) October 6, 2015
Without a doubt, even if some of the Twitter user base is unimpressed with Moments, it’s clear that Moments will become increasingly important for writers and bloggers as Twitter continues to develop the curation service.
It’s unclear how Twitter will use Moments to turn a profit, but it is just a small part of a much bigger facelift for the microblog. In addition to the introduction of Moments, Twitter has also recently released its “Buy now” button that allows you to purchase products directly through tweets (with Twitter taking a small cut of the profits).
Other big changes are in the pipeline for Twitter. That’s the whole idea behind bringing Jack Dorsey back on as CEO. It’s unclear if Dorsey can actually vocalize what Twitter does and find a way to make money on it, and Twitter’s stockholders are holding their breath.
What do you think of Twitter’s new Moments feature? Let us know in the comments below.
