Twitter takes a Moment to Change

Twitter SCULPTUREOver the last few weeks there have been plenty of rumors on what is going to happen to Twitter. The biggest has been the report of them  ditching the 140 character limit. It still up in the air and as of Monday Jack Dorsey is the CEO of Twitter. He was a co-founder of the service and went on to start Square. Its going to be interesting what they have planned.

Project Lightning has been one of the most talked about Twitter rumors. It was known they were going to focus on curated content but no one was sure how. Today they released Moment. What is moment? This is what Twitter is saying about the service.

Moments helps you find the best of Twitter as easily as tapping an icon – regardless of who you follow. Just visit the new tab called Moments, where you will discover stories unfolding on Twitter.” – Source Twitter Blog

I had the opportunity to play with the service today. It should be rolled out to everyone by now. It’s available on apps and website. The service has a few different topics. They include: Today, News, Sports, Entertainment and Fun. Each of these contains “immersive full-bleed images and autoplaying videos, Vines, and GIFs.” This is really a first for Twitter, it’s becoming very interactive with this service.

The layout is nice but still seems a bit wonky. The large images and videos make sense and are great. It’s when you see a random Tweet in the Moment that makes you go HUH? I think Moments could be something. Especially during breaking news such as the Arab Spring or similar news that you can’t get from other sources. I am reserving judgement for the service for a bit. I think it has some great potential and I”m sure it will go through some changes.

I give them credit for trying something new on Twitter. I’m a firm believer in you have to try new things and step out side of the box to see what works to grow. Even if this isn’t a success I think there will be many lessons Twitter can draw on in the future. The service has been basically unchanged since inception.

How are things being curated? Twitter is doing a large portion of this but is also allowing partners to create Moments. The initial partners are Bleacher Report, Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Fox News, Getty Images, Mashable, MLB, NASA, New York Times, Vogue and the Washington Post. They will be opening this up to more partners soon. If you are interested in creating a Moment see the Moment Policy and Guidelines.

It will be interesting to see what changes are in store for Twitter. This is a great first step but it won’t be the last.

Tim is the founder of Element33. A social media agency specializing in education, management and strategy for small businesses. He comes from a traditional marketing agency but has embraced all things digital. He considers himself a marketing nerd and believes that all marketing is tied together. This means no matter what silo you are in, social, email, seach, etc, changes in one will affect the other!

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