The microblogging titan that is Twitter rolled out two pretty big updates in the last two days: Audio Card and recommended tweets.
First off, Audio Card.
Audio Card is a built-in feature of the Twitter app that allows Android and iOS users to automatically play music, podcasts or other forms of audio content embedded in tweets.
This is made possible without the need to leave the Twitter app – allowing the user to easily listen to audio content while browsing Twitter.
SoundCloud and iTunes are the first partners that Twitter has signed up for Audio Card.
Next is the posting of recommended tweets being automatically posted to the timelines of Twitter users – even from sources they aren’t following.
Twitter has posted a comment on its blog explaining why it has made this rather controversial decision:
“Choosing who to follow is a great first step – in many cases, the best Tweets come from people you already know, or know of.”
“But there are times when you might miss out on Tweets we think you’d enjoy.”
“To help you keep up with what’s happening, we’ve been testing ways to include these Tweets in your timeline — ones we think you’ll find interesting or entertaining.”
Twitter also clarifies that the implementation of suggested tweets is still in the testing phase.
“Some timeline experiments never make it to 100% of users.”
“The ones that do aim to make the experience more interesting and relevant.”
In short, user feedback will determine whether Twitter maintains and expands its recommended tweets or rolls back the addition.
Love the new features? Think they’re a bad move on Twitter’s part?
Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!