The architecture of information:
According to a report on The Verge, Twitter will soon start testing new ways of displaying tweets that should give them more context. Some features clarify messages’ positions in conversations using reply threads:
hey Twitter. we've been playing with some rough features to make it feel more conversational here. presence and rep… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…—
Sara Haider (@pandemona) August 31, 2018
I’m more intrigued by two other features: availability indicators and context tags. The former are green bubbles next to the user’s name that indicate whether s/he is online and using the app at any given time. (Much like other chat systems do.) The latter are tags that allow users to indicate what a tweet refers to. Having a bit more context on what a tweet is about should help avoid non-sequiturs. (I assume it would also make it easier to filter out things you don’t want to bother with.)
Features like these should drive engagement in Twitter and add clarity for users; a case of alignment between the company’s goals and those of its users.
Twitter is rolling out speech bubbles to select users in the coming weeks
