Twitter held its annual “Twitter Analyst Day” a couple of days ago.
This edition was presented by Kayvon Beykpour, Product Lead and Dantley Davis, Head of Design and Research.
This conference allows the social media to present new functions coming in before the end of this year.
Here are some of the announcements made last Thursday :
New “communities” similar to Facebook groups
One of the first announcements made by the social media is the creation of groups called “communities”.
These will allow users to gather around common interests.
For many, these new groups are reminiscent of those from Mark Zuckerberg’s firm.
This is not the first time that the platform has “inspired” itself from other social media features.
Not so long ago, Twitter was accused and critiqued for having stolen the “stories” idea from Instagram… which was itself “inspired” by Snapchat and which has also been incorporated on Linkedin since then.
These new groups are not the only new features inspired by other social media.
Clubhouse, for instance, a very trendy media nowadays, also saw its concept borrowed by the platform.
Twitter will also offer “vocal spaces”, called Twitter Spaces, to its users, using the exact same functions from the invitation-based new platform.
Could this be an alternative for people unable to get their hands on an invitation to Clubhouse?
New payed services
Twitter is also thinking of introducing paid services to its users.
“We are exploring public financing options like Super Follows which would allow for creators to be supported directly by their audience”, a spokesperson from the Californian group explained on Thursday to the AFP.
However, this idea is still in the works, and nothing seems to be finalized as of yet.
The tool would allow users to subscribe to an account, for a couple of dollars a month, in exchange for exclusive content, discounts on merchandise, newsletters or even access to private groups.
An idea that also reminds users of other platforms, like Twitch or Patreon, which already have this kind of subscription system in place.
Twitter users were not pleased with this news and have expressed their discontent directly on the platform.
The hashtag #RipTwitter has quickly spread on the website after the conference.
As mentioned by this user, Twitter fans have been waiting for an Edit feature for years now.
Many have expressed being disappointed by the news.
An opinion somewhat shared by Jack Dorsey, founder of the company. He announced, during the opening speech of the conference, that the firm has been criticized “for three reasons : we are slow, we aren’t innovative and people don’t trust us”.
On that matter, I believe users share his take.
