5 New Game-Changing Twitter Updates
Social media always has been a fast-paced game, perhaps never more so than in recent times where competition to be the most progressive and impressive is fiercer than ever. Just of late Twitter has been making some interesting updates to its already winning social network formula. Allow us to introduce you to them.
1) Live Video Streaming
Proving their commitment to live video, Twitter has agreed a deal with financial news and media company Bloomberg which will lead to three of Bloomberg’s most popular financial news shows being live-streamed on the social networking giant. This recent development is something of a landmark for both partners as it is sure to connect Bloomberg to its wider mobile demographic whilst simultaneously announcing the arrival of Twitter more permanently in the financial district. The agreement comes on the back of the recent success Twitter experienced when streaming recent mid-week NFL games and coverage from Wimbledon.
2) Full Blocking
Back on June 13th, Twitter took measures to combat trolling and online abuse amongst its users via the use of the Block function. Somewhat of a loophole had previously existed in that unwanted tweets from a blocked user could still be retweeted to the account by a third party. The recent update on the Block button however means that a total block now exists which prevents offending users from following, sending direct messages or @ mentioning you. When logged in, all contact from a blocked user is now withheld.
Starting today, we’re making Block easier to help you control your Twitter experience. https://t.co/8pee8rzN1I pic.twitter.com/gCzkTwoglP
— Safety (@safety) June 13, 2016
3) I Need More Space
Firmly closing the door on the old Twitter ethos that less is more and following in the footsteps of the new larger character count, videos up to 140 seconds in length (see what they did there?) can now be uploaded to the social network. In addition users can now post GIF’s of up to 15MB to the site, a whole 10MB more than previously, although sadly mobile users are still tied to 5MB for the time being.
4) Who Doesn’t Like Stickers!!
Showing that it can still let its hair down and have fun, Twitter has recently followed in the footsteps of Snapchat and Facebook and introduced stickers to its ever increasing realm of possibilities. There is little variation in sticker sample with most of the old favourites in tow (hearts, sunglasses…etc), however Twitters #stickers can be rotated, reshaped and resized in an attempt to encourage creativity and innovation among its community.
5) The Retweet Evolved
The most egotistical of these developments is of course the new ability to Retweet or Quote Tweet yourself meaning that you can give more of a platform to a particular topic or ‘a really good [tweet that you feel] went unnoticed,’ in the words of Twitter Senior Product Manager Todd Sherman.
Now you can easily Retweet or Quote Tweet yourself with just a few taps. Pick an old favorite and give it a try! ???? https://t.co/bUj4ezQNOJ
— Twitter (@twitter) June 14, 2016
By Aisling Lewis