Twitter has made it easier to seize hot tweets and high-profile posts from the flood of real-time commentary at the one-to-many messaging service.
A new "Moments" feature that promised to let people quickly tune into "the best of Twitter" made its debut in the United States with a promise it would spread wider in the coming months.
Hundreds of millions of tweets are fired off daily on Twitter, among them comments from world leaders, celebrities and people in the midst of dramatic events, according to product manager Madhu Muthukumar.
"We know finding these only-on-Twitter moments can be a challenge, especially if you haven't followed certain accounts," Muthukumar said in a blog post on Tuesday.
"But it doesn't have to be. Moments helps you find the best of Twitter as easily as tapping an icon."
A new lightning bolt icon at Twitter takes people to lists of "moments" that promise to stand out from the maelstrom of tweets, according to Muthukumar.
Stories in the Moments list are updated throughout the day, and the feature also lets people swipe through topics such as "Entertainment" and "Sports" to find relevant tweets from previous days.
At launch, most of the offerings at Moments were selected by a Twitter curation team, but there were also contributions from partners including Getty Images, Fox News, NASA and The Washington Post.
Twitter plans to expand the list of partners.
"We look forward to seeing new and exciting uses of Moments from more partners soon," Muthukumar said.
The Moments feature was added to Twitter applications for smartphones powered by Apple or Android software and to Twitter's website accessible from desktop computers.
AFP
