Twitter released a billboard campaign this week in New York City to show how its micro-blogging site is connected to the world’s biggest issues. One of Twitter’s biggest issues is that many regular people cannot work out why the site is relevant to them, while power users log into the site daily and provide the bulk of its content, reports Business Insider.
Campaign to help users know about Twitter
Jack Dorsey, chief executive of Twitter, said in September that the micro-blogging site is the place to see what is happening, whether it’s niche topics, big world issues, or just what various communities are doing at a particular time. The billboards underline the first of those use cases, notes BI.
The simple ad displays show single pictures on topics such as transgender issues, the Pride flag, the melting of the polar ice caps, guns, Vladimir Putin, and more overlaid with Twitter’s hashtag symbol and logo. The campaign builds on a billboard that the social network erected near the Lincoln Tunnel in New York a few weeks ago. That billboard featured close-up shots of Donald Trump’s and Hillary Clinton’s eyes, notes BI.
In a blog post, Jayanta Jenkins, Twitter’s first global group creative director, explained how the campaign is all part of Twitter’s efforts to assist people in understanding what the platform is used for.
“This campaign highlights the top issues being discussed on Twitter – it reflects different sides and doesn’t take sides. As they always do on Twitter, people will bring their own point of view to the images that can be seen today around NYC.”
iOS users finally get Highlights
The micro-blogging giant is also deploying a new feature for iOS that Android users have had for the last 18 months. Highlights is praised for being a simple, fast summary of the best content that is most relevant for a person, and it is delivered via push notifications about two times a day.
A single tap on the Highlights notification takes users directly to the Twitter app, which is where they will find their Highlights displayed in a slideshow-style interface. When they reach the final Highlight in the list, the next swipe takes them directly to their regular timeline.
Twitter’s algorithm creates Highlights by examining conversations and the accounts the user follows. Also it examines tweets from accounts that the user has interacted with in the past.
