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Twitter will soon allow people to officially post tweetstorms.
Twitter has announced that the platform will soon get a new feature, one which it will allow its users to post tweetstorms. This series of connected tweets have enjoyed a surge in popularity as of late, with users dismissing Twitter’s word count limitation by chaining longer thoughts in multiple posts. The company has been testing the new “threads” feature on both its iOS and Android apps, Twitter confirmed in November.
While the concept of tweetstorms has never been an official Twitter feature, the company took note of people’s tendency to express longer thoughts on the same subject across multiple tweets.
This is also a response to the backlash that Twitter had received over the years from its users who criticized the platform for its 140 character count limit, something which the company recently doubled.
Users realized early on that a character limit would only take away from their stories and would not be able to get their message across. Twitter acknowledged that there are hundreds of thousands of unofficial threads being posted on a daily basis.
“…we know people also may want to serialize a longer story or thought, or provide ongoing commentary on an event or topic. That’s where this update to threads comes in!” the company wrote in a blog post.
The new “threads” feature will allow users to string together tweets by tapping a new plus icon located where you normally write your tweets.
After posting a thread, the first tweet will appear in the timeline just like any other post. The difference is, that tweet will also contain two more tweets from the thread. Followers who want to see the rest will need to tap the “show this thread” button.
Twitter confirmed in its blog post that the threads button is one of the latest user-created features to become official products within the app. While a16z co-founder Marc Andreessen was one of the first users on the platform who took advantage of the unofficial feature in 2014, the habit of posting long, detailed tweets boomed after the 2016 election. This is when Twitter transformed into a more prominent forum where you could discuss current events.
According to the company, the new “threads” feature will be rolling out on Android, iOS as well as online “in the coming weeks”.
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