Is Twitter is Getting Polling

 

lamingtonThis is the latest rumor running around the internet. This was a feature that Facebook had for pages but eventually removed. It was a great feature I wished they still had enabled. It allowed for a lot more interaction with fans on a variety of topics you could create.

The Next Web is one site showing screen shots of the new features. It’s something that Twitter is experimenting with. The Next Web sait it will change the service significantly. I won’t go as far as to say that but it would be a welcome feature. If you do a Poll now on the service you have to send someone your site or a third party site to vote. This would allow you to keep everything in one place.

It’s not super clear on how it would work but this is what I know. It will be an option in the tweet window. It will show to the right of Insert Image and Location. You will be able to fill in options. People can then vote in the specified time frame. After the voting has ended people will be able to see the results.

This would be a welcome feature for me and to clients. Why? because you can engage your followers more directly. One example would be a restaurant that may have people vote on a lunch special. Another example is crowd sourcing. If you have a decision to make and you’re unsure, such as a new product. Why not let your customers vote on what you sell. This would be most helpful in B2C retail environment.

Will this be able on third party apps? As of now I find it very unlikely it would be rolled out to apps to start. The picture card (picture embedded in the news stream) used to be an only official Twitter app or webpage. In the last two months HootSuite gained this ability as well. Polling would be very similar to the Photos roll out.

I hope we see a lot more development at Twitter. There is a ton of potential in the service if they get the right CEO. I will keep you posted on more developments with this service as I find them out.

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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