New Twitter Updates to Watch for With Social Media Examiner

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As someone who is a big fan of Twitter, there’s nothing I love more than when they start testing new features to expand and improve how we use the platform. And recently, I had the pleasure of being on Social Media Examiner’s Talk Show to chat about the current Twitter updates on the horizon.

If you want to know what to expect, I’m giving you an overview in this article. But if you want, you can tune into the replay of my episode right here. It’s definitely worth the watch!

New Twitter Features to Watch for With Social Media Examiner

Want to know what you have to look forward to on Twitter? Check out these new Twitter updates:

Feature Rollouts

When it comes to new Twitter updates, it doesn’t get more exciting than feature rollouts. Adding new features to the platform, it helps rejuvenate the love users once had and can entice new people at the same time. Here’s what Twitter has been working on:

  • Twitter Notes: This feature has been in testing with some writers and authors over the past month. You can see it in action on the @TwitterWrite account. Moving forward, the author’s bio will appear next to a published Note on the web. The bio will also be at the bottom of each Note. And Writers can now share block quotes in their Notes.
  • Hashtags in Communities: To help members find conversations they want to join, hashtags will be added to improve engagement within communities. Hashtags will populate at the top of the Communities page, ranked from most to least popular. Testing is ongoing on Android and the web. It will be coming to iOS soon.
  • Location Spotlight Launches Globally: If your business has a physical location, you can display it on your profile. You will need to turn on Twitter for Professionals, which is located in your navigation on both desktop and mobile. However, you can only turn on the location spotlight via mobile. This will allow you to add a physical address, website, business hours, email, and phone number.
  • Twitter Clips is Available for All: While listening to a live Twitter Space or a replay, you’ll notice a scissors icon at the bottom of the screen. You can tap on it to create a 30-second audio clip. This clip will expire after 30 days.
  • Podcasts Are Being Integrated Into Spaces: Twitter just announced it’s testing a redesigned Spaces tab that will include podcasts, themed audio stations, as well as live and recorded Spaces. Once rolled out, you’ll be able to easily access a personalized selection of live and recorded Spaces discussing the topics most relevant to your interests.

Twitter Blue

If you aren’t familiar with Twitter Blue, it’s a monthly subscription service that you can pay for in order to receive access to premium features. These features will then allow you to customize your overall Twitter experience. Although, it’s only available to those in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand right now. And it costs $4.99/month. But if you’re a passionate Twitter user in one of those countries, it might be worthwhile to join. Plus, here are some new Twitter updates coming to Twitter Blue users, including:

  • Tweet Editing: There’s no denying that Twitter users have long desired the ability to edit a tweet after it’s been posted. However, it’s something that the platform’s creators have resisted doing for many years. All that will be changing soon, but only for Twitter Blue subscribers. App researcher, Alessandro Paluzzi, shared that Twitter is planning to incorporate an Edit Tweet feature for its monthly subscribers.
  • Edited Tweets Will be Notated: Edited tweets will show “Last Edited” next to the timestamp and feature the new time. Any tweets that have been embedded on a website and later edited will show, “There’s a new version of this tweet.” Then, you can click to see the latest tweet.

Features in Testing

Twitter has been busy behind the scenes experimenting with some new ideas. Here’s what they’ve been working on:

  • Badges for Profiles Verified by Phone Number: One thing we can all agree upon is that Twitter bots can get pretty annoying. Luckily, Twitter is making moves to help users confirm which profiles are real and which ones aren’t. They’re testing out a new profile badge that will be displayed once a user has verified a phone number on their account.
  • Status Update: Twitter has been testing a new Status feature for some users based in the United States and Australia. And I’m lucky enough to have access to it! It’s a mobile-only feature that allows you to assign one of several pre-written labels to your tweets. These labels add more context when conveying what you’re up to. Each status has an emoji assigned to it as well. There are currently 16 to choose from. See it in action below.

  • Tweets Per Month Count: Have you ever wondered how many tweets you post per month? Well, Twitter might soon provide that information. They’re testing a new feature in which your number of tweets per month will be displayed on your profile. This could be helpful for someone who is deciding whether or not to follow you since people want to engage with active accounts.
  • Pinned Tweet Reply: Previously, we could only pin a tweet of our own creation. But now, Twitter might be expanding on that. They’re working on a feature that would allow users to pin a reply we received from another user. This would be pretty cool if you received a reply from a celebrity or kind words from someone within your community.
  • The Ability to Test the Platform Before Making an Account: For someone who is new to the world of Twitter, they might not want to commit to making an account so soon. Twitter is looking to give those people an opportunity to “test drive” the platform by allowing them to read tweets and experience having a timeline. However, they wouldn’t be able to tweet or retweet during their trial run.