• Discover music on Twitter

    Wednesday, May 30, 2012

    It might not surprise you to know that music is consistently among the most popular topics on Twitter. From interacting with your favorite artists to finding out about new songs, concerts and news, Twitter brings you closer to everything you love about music.

    You can experience the biggest moments in music like the GRAMMY Awards together with other fans around the world. And whether you’re in the audience or watching from home, Twitter can take you backstage with your favorite musicians to experience their day-to-day firsthand. During this year’s South By Southwest Music Festival, for example, Alison Sudol of @AFineFrenzy gave her followers a pre-show look into her green room.

    You can even reach out directly to your favorite artists. There are thousands of musicians on Twitter, and 49% of our 140 million users follow at least one of them. Some, like @tompetty, hold Q&A; sessions with their followers, answering all kinds of questions (even offbeat ones). Others, like deadmau5, take fan interaction to a whole new level: when the DJ tweeted from the recording studio that he would be live-streaming a new song he was working on for his upcoming album, one fan added his own vocal track to the instrumental and tweeted to @deadmau5 to check it out. deamau5 liked it so much he decided to include it on his new single.

    One last note: starting today, we’re making it even easier to discover and experience music on Twitter through a new partnership with Pepsi. @Pepsi will help people enjoy more music through free music downloads, music-focused original videos, and a series of pop-up concerts in the U.S. this summer and fall. Learn more about it on our Twitter Ads blog.

    Posted by @ at 9:30 AM

  • Twitter is a place for telling stories

    Friday, May 25, 2012

    In the little bit of spare time I have outside of Twitter I like to write fiction. That’s why when I came to Twitter I volunteered to help work with authors and publishers about how best to use Twitter.

    Something I’ve long admired is the flexibility the Twitter platform provides. It can be used for all kinds of storytelling, which is one of the things that makes working with authors on Twitter so fun. For fiction writers, Twitter is a big blank canvas with millions of readers available in an instant. I always get excited when an author begins to really play with Twitter and format. Teju Cole’s “Small Fates” are a great example of this: self-contained 140 character stories of life — and often, how it ends.

    So I’m especially excited about Jennifer Egan’s new short story “Black Box”, which the New Yorker fiction department is serializing on Twitter. Yes, Egan is a Pulitzer Prize winner, and that’s pretty awesome. Yes, it’s the New Yorker’s fiction department, and that’s awesome too. But there’s more: this story is so good!

    Egan’s rationale for a story in Tweets is very compelling:
    Several of my long-standing fictional interests converged in the writing of “Black Box.” One involves fiction that takes the form of lists; stories that appear to be told inadvertently, using a narrator’s notes to him or herself. My working title for this story was “Lessons Learned,” and my hope was to tell a story whose shape would emerge from the lessons the narrator derived from each step in the action, rather than from descriptions of the action itself....I’d also been wondering about how to write fiction whose structure would lend itself to serialization on Twitter. This is not a new idea, of course, but it’s a rich one—because of the intimacy of reaching people through their phones, and because of the odd poetry that can ha ppen in a hundred and forty characters.

    I love that: “the odd poetry that can happen in a hundred and forty characters.” Twitter’s character limit isn’t a constraint so much as it’s a creative filter. It brings out the inner editor, makes us fine-tune our language to become more powerful. Even when you use multiple Tweets to tell a story, each individual Tweet contains ts own story.

    Egan’s format here, emphasizing the mental list, works incredibly well with Tweets. While writing fiction on Twitter may not be new, this is definitely a big step in an original direction. We can’t wait to see where this story goes next.


    Follow @Nyerfiction to see the next installments of “Black Box”, and follow @twitterbooks for updates about the world of writing on Twitter.

    Posted by Andrew Fitzgerald, Manager, Editorial Programming (@magicandrew)

    Posted by @ at 2:45 PM

  • #OnlyOnTwitter: Ready for anything

    One of the things about Twitter being a real-time platform is that being on Twitter means you have to be ready for anything. Whether it’s President Obama suddenly announcing on a Thursday afternoon that he’s going to field questions from constituents or it’s the stars of Pretty in Pink picking up where their characters left off— Twitter will always surprise you. And it’s these sorts of unique moments that pop up in your timeline that could happen #OnlyOnTwitter.

    President Obama hosts a surprise Twitter town hall
    This week the President spoke on energy policy in Iowa. But right before he took the stage he sent a Tweet announcing that he'd be taking questions on Twitter right after the event. This spontaneous chat with constituents generated a lot of questions and the President answered many of them.

    Pretty in Pink, reunited & reignited
    Molly Ringwald inadvertently rekindled the once fictional rivalry between Pretty in Pink co-stars Jon Cryer and Andrew McCarthy.

    Ten top #BBMA Tweets
    The Billboard Music Awards took over Twitter last Sunday as the top stars of music celebrated their own. We were following closely on Twitter and picked some of the most retweeted and favorited Tweets of the night.

    Posted by Andrew Fitzgerald, Manager, Editorial Programming (@magicandrew)

    Posted by @ at 1:45 PM

  • Staring at the sun together

    Monday, May 21, 2012

    Yesterday, around the world, people paused their daily routines to gaze upward for a glimpse of the annular solar eclipse. They pointed cameras and cameraphones towards the sun or at the deepening dancing shadows in hopes of capturing images of this incredible sight. Collectively, these photos transcend language to tell the story of people marveling at one of our solar system’s most magical moments.

    Here are just a few of the views people tweeted. To see more stunning photos from all over, visit our search results for “eclipse”.

    Korea:
    Complete solar eclipse gold ring today


    Japan:
    Here comes Baily’s beads! The sun looks like a bead because of the moon’s bumps. Annular eclipse original phenomenon.

    I was taken with a lens that’s 3 months’ salary! No proposal.

    Sunlight through a blind on our office floor looked like this.

    Annular eclipse observation at our apartment rooftop is done. I was not planning to take photos but I took these with my “just-in-case” NEX-5. I put the eclipse glasses on the lens. Chronologically from left.

    Canada:


    New Mexico:

    Missouri:

    Lake Tahoe:

    San Francisco:

    Hawaii:
    Posted by @twitter

    Posted by @ at 4:23 PM

  • NASCAR puts you in the driver’s seat

    Friday, May 18, 2012

    NASCAR drivers have covered a lot of ground this year — and they’ve done it on Twitter. While @JimmieJohnson was 41,000 feet in the air, he hosted a live chat with fans. When the top Sprint Cup racers took a trip to the White House, they documented every step of their journey. During the Daytona 500, @keselowski found himself stopped on the track during a fire, and shared the view from the driver’s seat. And when you watch @KaseyKahne make his way around the track, you’ll see a hashtag on the back of his car.

    It’s clear that Twitter and NASCAR are a great match, and we’re working with NASCAR to bring fans even closer to the track.

    On June 10, while the drivers are racing in the Pocono 400, you’ll be able to get closer to the action as it unfolds on the track with a special experience around the #NASCAR hashtag. During the race, we'll curate accounts from the NASCAR universe and surface the best Tweets and photos from the drivers, their families, commentators, celebrities and other fans when you search #NASCAR on Twitter.com.


    We’ll have more to share about our relationship with NASCAR in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, this weekend you can follow the All-Star race and festivities via these accounts among others:

    @NASCAR
    @JimmieJohnson
    @keselowski
    @KyleBusch
    @KaseyKahne
    @JeffGordonWeb
    @KevinHarvick

    Cheering along with fellow fans during the biggest sporting events used to require being there in person, or at least heading to the nearest sports bar. Now, Twitter brings you closer to the roar of the crowd — and the roar of the engines.

    Posted by: Omid Ashtari, Twitter Sports & Entertainment Team (@omid)

    Posted by @ at 12:27 PM

  • Your ticket to the Billboard Music Awards

    What do you have in common with Usher, Carrie Underwood, and Maroon 5? You can experience the excitement of the Billboard Music Awards on Sunday night live on ABC 8pm ET / 7pm CT (8pm PT). Okay, we can’t promise that you’ll literally rub elbows with Alicia Keys, but following the show on Twitter can make you feel like you’re on the red carpet, at the award podium, and backstage with your favorite musicians.

    With our special cast of live-tweeters, you can experience the show through the eyes of the artists themselves and celebrity music fans who will be watching as well. Have you ever wondered what it’s like to take the stage to perform in front of millions of viewers? You can find out by following @NellyFurtado, @AliciaKeys, and @CarlyRaeJepsen, all of whom will be tweeting from inside the awards throughout the evening -- along with other hit acts like @RedFoo and @FarEastMovement.

    Not every musician in the world is at the Awards, but just about all of them might be watching it! Watch along with artists like @nadiaali, @preciousweapons, @tranquilmammoth, and @brokenanchor1. And finally, a big night for music also brings out the stars from other areas of entertainment. Also watching and tweeting along will be actors like @juliannehough and @TheRealMikeEpps, fashion guru @NinaGarcia, author Sloane Crosley (@askanyone) and comedian @TracyMcMillan. So make sure you take a look at our list on the night of the Awards.

    But before the big night even begins, check out our Billboard Music Awards list and follow all your favorite artists and the night’s hottest acts. During the show, you can follow the #BBMA hashtag to see these tweets and plenty more from musicians and fans around the world, and include it with your own Tweets to be a part of the conversation.

    With Modern Family stars Julie Bowen (@itsJulieBowen) and Ty Burrell hosting, the night promises to be full of fun. Here’s a sneak peek of the antics that await -- shared on Twitter, of course:

    Posted by Grace Chu Lee, TV Partnerships Team (@gracelee)

    Posted by @ at 11:04 AM

  • #OnlyOnTwitter: How photos make connections

    Thursday, May 17, 2012

    Communities are stitched together by numerous kinds of ties. In person there’s the smile, handshake, a shared laugh. From afar there’s the letter, email, a phone call. Twitter has a noteworthy power to bring you closer to a community instantaneously, and this week’s collection of #OnlyOnTwitter moments illustrates how this can be done with photographs.

    Whether it’s Broadway actors sharing an intermission break despite being in different shows, or photos from far away that pierce the mystique to show real, human people. Or (my favorite), if on your band’s tour you suddenly stumble upon the Most Awesome Story to Tell Your Friends — with Twitter, you tell it in real time.

    Saturday Intermission Pictures
    The Broadway community is a tight-knit crew. But on Saturday afternoons, when they're all scattered across different theaters, how do they stay close? Intermission pictures!

    Journalist Jacob Weisberg takes you to China
    On a trip to China, journalist Jacob Weisberg has been tweeting out photos and observations. This is a great format for feature reporters. Tweeting on the ground doesn't just have to be limited to breaking news. Jacob’s Tweets also offer an immediate and fascinating picture at life behind the Great Firewall.

    Indie Band Picks up a Hitchhiking John Waters
    John Waters was making his way across Ohio with his thumb and indie band Here We Go Magic picked him up. He rode in their van, and they reported the details of the incident on Twitter. (via DCist)


    Posted by Andrew Fitzgerald, Manager, Editorial Programming (@magicandrew)

    Posted by @ at 2:20 PM

  • New tailored suggestions for you to follow on Twitter

    Every day, hundreds of thousands of people sign up for Twitter to get closer to the things they care about — friends, businesses, celebrities, news and information from all over. If you’ve used Twitter for awhile, you know it can take some effort to find and follow the accounts that really reflect your interests. If you’re signing up for Twitter for the first time, we want that process to be easy and fast.

    Currently, when new users come to Twitter, we show them all almost the same suggestions for what or who to follow. That isn’t ideal. Since you have individual interests, you should get individual suggestions. After all, even though millions of people love Justin Bieber, FC Barcelona or Kim Kardashian, not everyone using Twitter may want to follow them. A football fan in Italy who loves to travel may want to follow @chiellini, @walksofItaly and @nytimestravel. An aspiring chef who loves to laugh can follow @epicurious, @seriousrecipes and @SteveCarell. And a mom whose son is traveling in Australia can feel connected to him and keep up with the latest news where he is by following @smh.

    To make it easier and faster for everyone to get started on Twitter, we’re beginning some experiments with tailored suggestions in a number of countries around the world. The first experiment will show new users a list of accounts that we recommend you follow, alongside a timeline filled with Tweets from those accounts. If you’re part of the experiment, you’ll see a Twitter experience that’s relevant to you right when you sign up. (Of course, you can always choose to not follow the suggested accounts that don’t interest you.)

    New users may see a list of tailored suggestions (left) and a timeline with Tweets from those accounts (right) as they sign up for an account.

    New users may see a list of tailored suggestions (left) and a timeline with Tweets from those accounts (right) as they sign up for an account.

    If you’re a current user, you may see tailored suggestions in Who to follow so you can constantly find interesting and relevant accounts that are new to you. In both cases, we hope it’s effortless for the Italian football-and-travel fan to follow @chiellini, @walksofItaly and @nytimestravel. To see which accounts we’d recommend for you, visit our preview page.

    Current users may see tailored suggestions in “Who to follow”.

    These tailored suggestions are based on accounts followed by other Twitter users and visits to websites in the Twitter ecosystem. We receive visit information when sites have integrated Twitter buttons or widgets, similar to what many other web companies — including LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube — do when they’re integrated into websites. By recognizing which accounts are frequently followed by people who visit popular sites, we can recommend those accounts to others who have visited those sites within the last ten days.

    As always, we are committed to providing you with simple and meaningful choices about the information we collect to improve your Twitter experience. For those who don’t want to tailor Twitter, we offer ways to turn off this collection. As the Federal Trade Commission’s CTO, Ed Felten, mentioned earlier today, we support Do Not Track (DNT), which is reflected in our privacy policy as one of the ways you can indicate your preference. If you have DNT enabled in your browser settings, we will not collect the information that enables this feature, so you won’t see any tailored suggestions. We hope that our support of DNT highlights its importance as a privacy tool for consumers and creates even more interest and wider adoption across the web.

    Additionally, new users will see an option to “Tailor Twitter based on my recent website visits” along with a link to “Learn more” when they create an account on Twitter.com. Current users will see a new “Personalization” section in account settings, with the same option to tailor Twitter. Of course, you can disable these options at any time, which will stop the collection of information for the feature and remove any tailored suggestions we have for you. You can even choose to turn off tailored suggestions from the preview page (which shows some suggestions we’d make for you).

    Every day, experienced Twitter users are brought closer to the things they care about in unique, profound ways. Today’s experiment in providing tailored suggestions lets novice users go from zero to pro faster and more easily than ever before. So even if you’re not a football-loving Italian who wants to travel the world, we hope this experiment immediately makes Twitter yours, and you can start getting closer to the things you care about with just a few clicks or taps.

    - Othman Laraki, Director, Growth and International (@othman)

    Posted by @ at 12:32 PM

  • The best of Twitter in your inbox

    Monday, May 14, 2012

    Starting today, you can discover the best of Twitter in a weekly email digest delivered to your inbox. This summary features the most relevant Tweets and stories shared by the people you’re connected to on Twitter.

    Stories feature a design similar to the recently updated Discover tab, emphasizing who shared each story beneath summaries to help you decide which ones matter most to you. Click any headline to finish reading the story, add your take by tweeting directly from the email, and see related Tweets from the people you follow.


    This new email digest also features the most engaging Tweets seen by the people you follow, even if you don’t follow those who wrote them. You can see who from your network retweeted or favorited these Tweets and click “View details” to retweet, favorite, reply or view the conversation around them.

    We’re rolling out this new email out to everyone over the next few weeks, so keep checking your inbox for new messages from Twitter. Like other Twitter email notifications, you can manage your preferences for this new digest in your Notification Settings.

    -Othman Laraki, Director, Growth and International (@othman)

    Posted by @ at 11:40 AM

  • Making every day Mother's Day

    Sunday, May 13, 2012

    Officially, Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May in the U.S. Of course, all year long, Twitter is filled with love and appreciation (and, of course, a little humor) for our moms. Here are some of our favorite moments of mom shared on Twitter the other 364 days of the year.

    Even though her comedy is often inspired by her family life, Mindy Kaling shared a sincere perspective on her relationship with her mom:

    Justin Bieber tweeted about the gift he’ll be giving his mom, and when his fans can get it too:

    Creator and star of HBO’s “Girls,” Lena Dunham lets us in on the rapport she and her mom share:

    Twitter isn’t just a place to come to talk about your mom: it’s also a place to come to talk to your mom. Families use Twitter to keep in touch, and share their affection.

    When actor Neil Patrick Harris posted a picture of his new twins, a very proud mother and grandmother quickly replied:


    After publishing her first book, Katherine Schwarzenegger shared her appreciation for the support from her mom, Maria Shriver, perhaps not coincidentally a public figure and best-selling author:

    What’s the secret to center-fielder Matt Kemp’s great start with the Dodgers this year? Maybe it’s the workout encouragement he and his mom share with each other:

    Today, share your own mom memories and moments on Twitter. But flowers are still a good idea too.

    Posted by @twitter

    Posted by @ at 1:03 AM

  • #OnlyOnTwitter: Announcements and surprises

    Friday, May 11, 2012

    We have a couple of moments to share with you this week of things that happened #OnlyOnTwitter. Two of our stories this week are about announcements. In one, Twitter was the platform of choice for hundreds of thousands of people to express their views on President Obama’s decision to support gay marriage. In another, Twitter was the creative canvas upon which The Atlantic drew a graphic. And then, just for fun, did you know that Salman Rushdie follows Molly Ringwald? He does.

    On Wednesday, President Obama expressed his support for gay marriage during a taped television interview. He quickly shared the news on Twitter, driving the conversation to its highest levels:

    Elected officials from both sides of the aisle also turned to Twitter to voice their opinions about Obama’s announcement:

    While our @gov team tweeted their data about the gay marriage conversation via an embedded image, The Atlantic’s new business site “Quartz” turned their Tweets into infographics about cellphone usage:

    Finally, it’s always fascinating to see how Twitter can bring people together. This week, a writer in New York casually noted that author @SalmanRushdie is following actress @MollyRingwald -- and was in for a bit of a surprise when they both responded:



    Posted by Andrew Fitzgerald, Manager, Editorial Programming (@magicandrew)

    Posted by @ at 12:42 PM

  • A new standard for the mobile web

    Monday, May 07, 2012

    Today we’re updating Twitter for mobile web (mobile.twitter.com) in an effort to give every person on the planet a consistent Twitter experience. People who access Twitter from feature phones, low-bandwidth networks or older browsers can now enjoy the new version of Twitter we introduced in December.


    In this updated version of mobile.twitter.com, you can see all the Tweets from the accounts you follow in the Home tab and check your @mentions in the Connect tab. You can see what’s trending in the Discover tab, and access your direct messages and Tweets in the Me tab.

    Like Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android, mobile.twitter.com is fast, like a native mobile app; it uses one-third less bandwidth than the previous iteration. We’re rolling out this new mobile web experience starting today, and will continue to make Twitter the most accessible way to connect with the world, even with the weakest signals and the simplest devices.

    - Satya Patel, VP of Product (@satyap)

    Posted by @ at 11:12 AM

  • #OnlyOnTwitter: Our collective past

    Friday, May 04, 2012

    We talk a lot about how Twitter is an amazing real-time platform. The news of the hour, delivered to you within seconds. But while Twitter is always bringing us closer to the present, sometimes our Tweets are a way of looking back to the past. This week’s #OnlyOnTwitter is about looking backwards. We’ve collected musicians’ memories of MCA. We also have a short Twitter essay remembering NFL linebacker Junior Seau. And we have a project developed by NBC LA to live-tweet the Los Angeles riots from 20 years later. All examples of Twitter’s power to make you a part of a global, collective history. And to bring you closer not just to the present, but to the past as well.

    Today we were heartbroken to see the news that Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys passed away. The news was shared via Tweets, passed around the world by fans whose lives had been touched by his work. And shortly thereafter came the memories— Tweets about listening to the Beastie Boys, Tweets about meeting “MCA”, Tweets about the impact his music had on all of music that followed. A flow of Tweets in which we were all sharing what this man meant to us as individuals, collectively.

    I think this is something important about Twitter. On Twitter our individual memories become a collective history that is more powerful, more meaningful and more instructive than ever before.

    RIP MCA
    Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys passed away this Friday. Across Twitter, musicians celebrated his work and remembered his impact on their lives and careers.

    Remembering Junior Seau
    After the suicide of Chargers linebacker Junior Seau, NFL player Eric Olsen remembered him on Twitter.

    Re-living the Los Angeles riots
    Twenty years ago LA erupted in a firestorm of riots after the Rodney King verdict. This year, NBC LA set up an account to tweet out updates from twenty years ago, exactly how and when they happened. These are excerpts from the first night of rioting.

    White House Correspondents Dinner highlights
    Every year the press and the President hobnob with celebrities and comedians for the a night of dinner, drinks and laughs. On Twitter, they call it #nerdprom. If you didn't manage to get on the guest list, you could still catch the jokes on Twitter:

    SF Ballet's #AskADancer
    Hours before the curtain raised for their performance of "Don Quixote", the San Francisco Ballet took fan questions for the show's star dancer.

    #PandaAI titillates nation of panda fans
    The National Zoo live-tweeted a scientific procedure that just happened to be artificially inseminating a giant panda named Mei. It was fascinating from a scientific perspective and also attracted no small amount of snark.

    Kanye and Bieber tweet their way to collaboration
    Two years ago Kanye West asked Justin Bieber to collaborate via Twitter. Now, as Kenny Hamilton reports, the collaboration is happening.

    Louis C.K. is a fan of Girls
    We have to imagine that when you're Lena Dunham, creator of the new HBO hit Girls, it takes a lot to make your day. Like when a comedy hero tweets his admiration to you.

    --Andrew Fitzgerald, Manager, Editorial Programming (@magicandrew)

    #RIPMCA

    Posted by @ at 1:50 PM

  • Innovate through experimentation

    In order to offer you the simplest and most engaging Twitter experience, we frequently test hundreds of variations of new features and designs with small groups of users. We test everything from subtle tweaks in the language of our sign-up pages and removing the search box from our homepage to big shifts in navigation elements. These experiments help us understand what experiences people like best or use most often. When an experiment ends, we study the results and roll out the most successful variation to everyone as soon as we can.

    After recent experimentation, we introduced a slight redesign to every Tweet that flows through your timeline on Twitter.com. A Tweet may be our basic unit of communication, but it also contains a universe: each one has an identity with a username, real name and avatar; a 140-character message that includes text as well as metadata like time and language; some context (replies, favorites and retweets of that Tweet), and perhaps media (photos, videos or links).

    Now, when you hover over the newly-redesigned Tweet, you'll always see options to reply, favorite or retweet in the lower-left corner against a grey background.


    If the Tweet contains media, you’ll also see specific options like “View photo” or “View video”; otherwise, you’ll see the option to “Expand”. You can expand any Tweet in your timeline to see inline context like favorites or retweets from other people, or additional Tweets from that same conversation. You can also click on any Tweet’s timestamp or “Details” to see that Tweet’s permalink, the unique web page for that Tweet.

    We made these changes because this iteration showed a significant increase in engagement, the highest of all the implementations during our experiment. We hope you like this change, which we think makes all of the possible ways to interact with a Tweet more clear. Even more, we hope you don’t mind our ongoing experiments. We’re always curious to find new ways to delight you, and to improve your Twitter experience.

    - Othman Laraki, Director (@othman)

    Posted by @ at 12:13 PM

  • Overheard at the water cooler

    There are phrases whose origins fade in the rush of time, and “water cooler moment” is one of those. Apparently first cited c. 1999, it meant a prime-time TV moment that co-workers discussed the next day at the office (presumably with small pointed paper cups in hand).

    Flipping forward, Twitter has been increasingly invoked as creating such “must-see” moments for a newer world — in real time, no waiting. This week, on NPR’s flagship show, “All Things Considered,” (@npratc) interviewed former NBC President Warren Littlefield, who reigned during the network’s "Must-See TV" heyday. His new book details that era, and he bemoans the loss of those “water cooler moments” in our multi-channel multiverse where we’re madly and asynchronously watching stuff constantly.

    Host Audie Cornish (@nprAudie) felt bemoaning was not in order:
    “When I'm watching the Oscars, and everyone is on Twitter…I do feel like I'm having a communal experience with the show — in some cases enjoying it more, because you're having the water cooler conversation at that moment."
    "Absolutely. I agree with that", said Mr. L., known on Twitter as @TopOfTheRock_WL.

    We’re glad he concurs that Twitter has elevated the water cooler experience into the very fabric of shows. Others are noting this too. Today’s USA Today story quotes Greg Kahn, EVP of Optimedia: “The water cooler used to be the next day, now it's while the show is going on."

    And as Philadelphia Inquirer TV critic Ellen Gray (@elgray) notes, Twitter isn’t just for viewers, either: TV showrunners and writers are on Twitter to gauge viewer feedback and try out new material.

    This new wave of “Twitter TV” has given us a real driveway moment, as NPR might say — one that’s neatly summed up by Daniel Block (@spacemonkey95):

    “So Twitter is the new water-cooler. … Twitter enables a truly communal viewing experience. Like never before it is possible to share a televisual experience with other viewers across the nation. I know of some people who sometimes choose to watch a programme broadcast live, rather than on a catch-up service later, because they want to "join in" on Twitter.”


    - Chloe Sladden, VP, Media (@ChloeS)

    Posted by @ at 9:51 AM

  • Discover better stories

    Tuesday, May 01, 2012

    The Discover tab makes it easy to discover information that matters to you without having to follow additional accounts. Starting today, the Discover tab will begin to surface content that is even more personalized and meaningful to you. We’ve incorporated additional personalization signals to select Discover stories, including Tweets that are popular among the people you follow and the folks they follow.

    The Discover tab’s new design shows who tweeted about particular stories. You can click “View Tweets" on any story to see popular Tweets from your network or recent, relevant Tweets directly below the story summary. This social context helps you understand why each story matters to you and makes it easier to join the conversation. You can reply, retweet or favorite these Tweets, or you can “Tweet this story” to share your own perspective.


    Over the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out this redesigned and more personalized Discover experience on Twitter.com, iPhone and Android. This update is part of our ongoing development of Discover; we will continue to work to make discovery on Twitter a magical experience that brings you instantly closer to the information that matters most to you at the right time, any time.

    - Satya Patel, VP of Product (@satyap)

    Posted by @ at 9:19 AM