Twitter announced on Wednesday that itâs rolling out a new feature that allows all Twitter users to create their own Moments, a collection of Tweets generated from tweets, photos, vines or videos relating to a common subject matter.
By extending this creative format to everyone, Twitter says theyâre âgiving people a new and dynamic way to tell their stories.â
Moments dubbed ‘project lightning’Â was first announced in October 2015 and allowed only Twitter employees and select publishing partners to curate the section. The aim was to help Twitter users keep up with what was happening in the world, through current and relevant topics without having to follow numerous accounts. The âbest of Twitter in an instantâ as Twitter describes it.
However in August, the company opened up the feature to a broader number of brands and individual influencers, letting them create their own Moments to enhance user engagement.
The concept of aggregating collections of tweets into a cohesive story is not a new one with third parties like Storify having stepped in long ago.
How to create a Moment
1. From the Moments tab on your profile, click the Create New Moment button.
2. Click the Title your Moment field to give your Moment a name.
3. Click the Add a description field to type in a description for your Moment.
4. Choose Tweets to add to your Moment.
5. Click Set cover to choose a cover image from one of your selected Tweets, or to upload an image from your computer.
6. Click on the Publish button at the top of the page to make your moment live.
Users can also make their Moment private if they wish to, making it available only to those who have the link.
Twitter rules still apply and all content in a Moment may be reported leading to suspension of the userâs account, even if they did not author the Tweet, if found to be in violation of the rules.
Opening up Moments to all users could be an effort to give people another reason to use Twitter, especially in light of challenges with stalling user growth and rumours of a buy in but Moments is a powerful feature that could usher in a new era of hands-on social media. It will not only change how brands interact with users but enhance how the world engages on specific topics and events.
Twitter has already been at the forefront of shaping the narrative on social issues around the world, highlighting events as the take place and Moments will only take it a notch higher. People can now tell their stories in a compelling manner and be able to or have others trace them back whenever they want to.
For brands and publishers already using the feature, much may not change but it is guaranteed that competition will intensify as brands will be looking to be featured in the “official” Moments Twitter highlights.
For now, the feature is only available in Twitterâs desktop format, but it will soon make its way Twitterâs to mobile apps.
