Twitter Begins iOS Rollout of Location-Based Tweet Aggregating Feature

Twitter has confirmed to TechCrunch that all of its first party iOS app users will today begin to see a new location-based feature that aggregates tweets tagged to a specific geographic location. Called “Twitter Location Feeds,” the update lets users scroll through tweets and profiles surrounding locations like the headquarters of a business, sporting event, music festival, or an entire city.

Powered by Foursquare, users can jump into any Location Feed they want by first tapping on a tweet to check out more details, then tapping on the location tagged within to see a list of tweets compiled within the area. Once in the feed for any specific location, users can scroll through all tweets posted by users in the area, or specify a media-only category to stick with photos and videos.

Location feeds will unlock the ability for users anywhere to immerse themselves in a place. You could drop into a sporting event, see what people think about a museum, find the favorite dish from a restaurant, check the vibe at a local park, virtually visit a concert, or even become engulfed in a protest.

Instead of browsing a noisy hashtag with tweets from everywhere, you can discover what people on the ground are saying. This ability to immerse yourself in an unfiltered sea of information has always been one of the best parts of Twitter.

Due to its focus on navigation starting from tags in other users’ tweets, a lot of the functionality of Location Feeds rides on automatic location tagging, which many users might have turned off. As such, TechCrunch considers that an update with searchable geographic areas is “a sensible next step.”

Twitter said that Location Feeds will be rolling out to all iOS users starting today, and that more platforms are planned for the future, but didn’t give any specified information on which will be coming next. Today’s news follows an update to the social network earlier in the week that expanded its video lengths from 30 to 140 seconds.

Tag: Twitter
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Democrats use Twitter to amplify House sit-in over gun control

Democrats are currently staging a sit-in at the House of Representatives to demand a vote on gun control legislation, and Republicans aren’t happy about it — they’re declaring recesses to shut off cameras (which are controlled by the House) and downplay the protest. The Dems aren’t letting that get in the way, though. They’ve gone into overdrive using Twitter, Periscope and Facebook Live to advertise the sit-in and draw attention to their cause. Even C-SPAN has turned to displaying tweets and live streams in the absence of TV broadcasts from the House floor.

You could argue that this switch to social channels was inevitable. Publicity is key here — the Dems weren’t about to protest in relative silence, even if news outlets were destined to have indirect coverage. However, the sit-in says a lot about the difficulty of trying to control the media in the internet era. There’s a real chance that the anti-TV ploy could backfire, putting the spotlight on a move that (right or wrong) might have otherwise gone ignored by many people.

C-SPAN has no control over the U.S. House TV cameras. Now showing a @periscopeco from @RepScottPeters. pic.twitter.com/L3JeHuSdL5

— CSPAN (@cspan) June 22, 2016

From Newtown to Charleston… how long will it take for Congress to act? #NOMORESILENCE #goodtrouble pic.twitter.com/uH4G5HCQc5

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) June 22, 2016

Via: Wired

Source: John Lewis, Scott Peters, CSPAN (Twitter)

Twitter stretches Vines and video posts to 140 seconds

Starting today, Twitter users will get just as many seconds of video as they do characters of text. According to an announcement, Twitter is opening up 140-second videos to everyone on the service. Likewise, some Vine creators will also be able to expand outside the snappy six-second limit with a new Beyond the Vine feature that allows the shorter clips to serve as trailers for a longer, two-minute video.

On the Twitter video side, some “select publishers” will actually have access to 10-minute videos, so don’t be surprised if you start seeing entire John Oliver segments popping up in your timeline. The longer video clips come with their very own fullscreen viewing mode, similar to what Facebook and YouTube’s mobile apps already offer.

Explore more videos and Vines that are lighting up Twitter. Our new viewing mode will let you watch more with a tap. pic.twitter.com/XyBaes37T7

— Twitter Video (@video) June 21, 2016

As for Vine, the standalone app will now offer some content creators the ability to link their traditional six-second clips to longer videos with a “Watch more” button in the lower right corner. These longform Vines, as it were, also open up the canvas to full, widescreen videos and not just the vertical, square crop we’ve gotten used to. And a new feature is getting carried over from Periscope as well: double tapping a video now makes hearts fly over the screen.

Finally, because all of this is obviously in service of the almighty ad dollar, Twitter says the company will be expanding the monetization options they rolled out through Open Amplify last year. And, if you’re already famous, Twitter is rolling out a new app called Engage today, which should help you interact with all your rabid fans.

Twitter Extends Video Limit From 30 to 140 Seconds, Launches New Analytics App

Twitter today announced that video lengths on the social networking site will be expanded from 30 seconds to 140 seconds long, with select publishers still granted exemption from the limit with the ability to post up to 10 minute long videos. The company called video “increasingly central to the real-time conversations happening on Twitter,” and noted that video-related Tweets had increased over 50 percent since 2016 began.

Now, everyone can post videos up to 140 seconds long! We can’t wait to see the amazing videos you create and share.https://t.co/DFsuvnXkuL

— Twitter Video (@video) June 21, 2016

To help facilitate more video views from its users, Twitter will be updating its iOS and Android apps with a new “full-screen viewing experience” that pops up whenever you tap on any tweeted video on your timeline. Everyone will be able to take advantage of the new 140-second videos beginning today, but the app update is said to be “rolling out soon.”

The company is also launching a separate, all-new app focused on analytics. Called “Twitter Engage,” users will be able to better understand and decipher the performance of their tweets with “real-time data and insights.” The app, which is specifically targeted at “influential creators” but available to anyone who’s interested, lets users track tweet activity, get notifications from the most important followers, and provide a breakdown of the highest and lowest performing tweets posted to an account.

Similar lengthy video updates are also coming to the Twitter-owned Vine app, where a select handful of creators will be able to stretch the 6-second platform to a full 140-second video that the company equates to “a trailer for a bigger story.” The video-related updates appear to be inspired around the YouTube-centric VidCon, happening June 23-25 in Anaheim, California. The company encourages those interested to follow Twitter Video for up-to-the-minute news — and Tweets using the longer format — coming out of the conference.

Tag: Twitter
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Twitter buys a machine learning company to improve your videos

Facebook isn’t the only social network to see some value in artificial intelligence. Twitter has bought Magic Pony, a small London outfit that specializes in using machine learning to process visuals, at an unofficial worth of around $150 million. It’s hoping to use the newly acquired talent to “enhance [its] strength” in both live and pre-recorded videos. What exactly it will do isn’t clear, but Twitter chief Jack Dorsey points to Magic Pony’s work on sharpening blurry video elements as an example — it’s easy to see machine learning improving the quality of clips (especially on Periscope) without consuming more of your all-important bandwidth.

This isn’t Twitter’s first AI-related acquisition. It bought Madbits back in 2014, and Whetlab last year. However, you’re more likely to notice this one. Twitter’s first machine learning buyouts were about organizing pictures and analyzing tweets, both of which tend to happen behind the scenes. You’ll probably notice Magic Pony’s efforts every time you see a Periscope stream, a movie trailer or a sports replay.

Source: Twitter, Magic Pony, TechCrunch

Now advertisers can target users who tweet a certain emoji

As much as we debate new Twitter features that affect users, in its pursuit of revenue the company is constantly courting advertisers. Its latest gambit capitalizes on that oh-so-popular element of modern conversation and 2015 “word” on the year: the emoji. Now, advertisers can target more than just specific words in tweets, they can also cite particular emoji to find users they believe will be receptive to their pitches. In other words, use the pizza emoji in a tweet and expect an ad from Dominos or someone similar coming your way soon. Twitter also says it can serve up users “based on their expressed sentiment” and “based on their passions.” We’re not sure what this will mean for the eggplant or 💯 emoji, but users will probably find out soon enough.

Big news! Target emojis right from Twitter Ads 👏🏼😎😂 🦄 🍕 https://t.co/Ksikmgi3W5

— Twitter Advertising (@TwitterAds) June 15, 2016

Source: Twitter Advertising Blog