Twitter gained greater importance through the course of 2020 as the micro-blogging site was a major communications platform for discourse around COVID-19 pandemic among other topics. Especially in the US, Twitter with other social media sites had to face a crucial battle against misinformation in the run-up to the US Presidential polls that took place on November 3. In a bid to promote safe conversations and enhance users’ experience, the company introduced a slew of new features such as Fleets inspired by Snapchat stories, Voice Tweets, and more. As a result, in 2020, Twitter saw more people using its service than ever before. According to the company, its global userbase grew by 29 percent year-over-year to 187 million.
Therefore, without any further delay, here are five notable features that Twitter introduced in 2020 that transformed it to more than just a micro-blogging site.
Voice tweets: Introduced in June, the Voice tweet feature allows users to tweet using their voice through a new ‘wavelength’ icon. Currently, available to iOS users in select regions, the company will expand to Android and web platforms in 2021. The company is also expected to start testing voice DMs shortly. While announcing the feature, the company had said that “sometimes 280 characters are not enough, and some conversational nuances are lost in translation.”
Twitter Fleets: Perhaps one of the most notable features that arrived on Twitter was its Snapchat Story-inspired Fleets. The feature lets users post media (images, videos, and texts) that disappear after 24 hours. The company had chosen India as one of the first markets for testing Twitter Fleets back in June. Currently, it is available across several countries but not yet available on the web platform.
Limit Replies to Your Tweets: Since its inception, Twitter allowed anyone to reply to a Tweet posted by another user. However, in 2020, the company introduced a new setting to give people more control over their conversations. With the updated conversation control, users can decide who can respond to their tweets. Users can choose between three options before posting a tweet – Everyone, People You Follow, and Only People You Mention. The feature is available across Android and iOS apps and web platform.
Read before you Retweet: Earlier in October, Twitter added an in-app prompt to remind users to open an article before ‘Retweeting or Quote Tweeting’ something. It was a big update that was introduced only a month before the US elections. Twitter adds that the prompt helps people on the platform to stay “more informed and hold a thoughtful conversation” about any topics. The company further notes that people who retweet articles now open them 33 percent more often before sharing, thanks to the new prompt.
Dedicated COVID-19 Event Page: With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in India, Twitter launched a dedicated COVID-19 events page for both the apps and web client, to help people find credible content on coronavirus in both English and Hindi. The page was launched in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to share the latest facts about the pandemic from verified sources. To access the page, web users can find it on the right side of the screen under “COVID-19 in India” section while app users will need to tap on the search button. Additionally, in September, the platform renamed retweet with comments to quote tweets, in a bid to make clearer information to users.
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