Is this Twitter's Moment?
Jack Dorsey is in as the official permanent CEO of Twitter, and he’s quickly announced the launch of Project Lightning, according to Re/code. Project Lighting is a multimedia update the social media outlet has been pitching for months in an attempt to resuscitate growth and get the company back on track with Wall Street. Now called Moments, this monumental new product launch is being seen by many as a Hail Mary throw to try rejuvenating Twitter.
A Moment is a group of tweets, typically heavy in photographs and/or videos, centered around a specific event or topic. For example, the Super Bowl could have its own Twitter Moment. These Moments are curated by Twitter or partners like BuzzFeed and the New York Times, and exist primarily within a new tab inside the official client app for the social media network and on its Web page. However, Moments can also be shared within tweets.
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The difference between a Moment and the rest of your Twitter timeline is in the way the grouping of posts is constructed. A Moment will read like a book, with a beginning, middle, and end, instead of appearing in reverse chonological order.
Madhu Muthukumar, product manager for Moments, hopes that the new offering will help make Twitter less underwhelming for new users while also giving exciting new content to all users. “If it’s your first session [on Twitter] and you have no followings and no followers, boy, Twitter can be tough,” said Muthukumar. “This is meant to give you a bridge.”
You can view Twitter Moments either in the new tab in the iOS app, or directly from the Web page for the social media network. They look outstanding, with a wide variety of Moments, including breaking news, sports, entertainment, and just plain fun. I’ve fallen out of the habit of following Twitter, but Moments might just recapture my interest in the social network.