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| Twitter tests interest-based communities |
Twitter started the community which is a rival feature to Facebook groups and Reddit and used to tweet with other people with specific interests.
Users of the platform can be invited to join an initial set of communities including #AstroTwitter, #DogTwitter, #SkincareTwitter, and #SoleFood.
Once people join the community, they can tweet directly to other members, not just their followers. Community members can like or reply to Tweets sent by other members.
Similar to groups on Facebook and Reddit, each community has its own admin that can set rules and invite or remove people.
The platform invited a group of users to create the first community and allowed anyone to apply to start a private community through their website.
The company said in a statement: The community is currently working on an invitation-only system. But we work hard to enable people to discover and join the communities they want to join.
This makes joining a community more difficult than joining a sub-forum or public group on Facebook.
The community is a very clear step up for the platform. In fact, its users have long formed specialized groups for specific interests.
The platform is now formalizing this dynamic in a product and plans to highlight the product in the main navigation bar of its mobile app.
Twitter tests interest-based communities
Those who can access the community through iOS can access it through the tabs at the bottom of the navigation bar.
On the web, users see the "Community" tab in the sidebar. You can now read community tweets on Android, more features will be available soon.
The platform has worked hard to keep visitors engaged and often times you don't find relevant tweets or accounts to track.
To solve the problem, over the past two years the company has prioritized recommending topics such as professional sports teams.
Although the platform allows anyone to easily create and promote private communities, this feature can make the app more attractive to regular users.
The platform first previewed its functionality in the community when it was introduced to investors in February. She said at the time that her goal was to make it easier for people to initiate, discover, and engage in dialogues with relevant communities or regions of interest.
This means the community can also use apps like Nextdoor to recommend groups to people who live in a particular city or town.
The community is the latest in a series of extensive product bets on the platform over the past year. Including storage space, secure tweet subscriptions, and push-to-host connections.