Following a conversation on Twitter can be confusing a times, especially in its current form. The social media platform has been testing out a different format that makes it easier to follow. It’s made its rounds in the prototype Twttr app earlier. Now it’s made its way to the web version as well.
App researcher Jane Manchun Wong shared shared the discovery in a tweet of her own. In its current form, it looks like a combination of features from Twitter itself, and some ideas from Reddit. The overall look is reminiscent of the latter, with clear indications of replies. You also get to click on a specific reply to highlight it and get its URL, just as you currently can.
Twitter continues working on Conversation Tree
now with the ability to focus a specific tweet, even from a permalink pic.twitter.com/CVadSqbFDP
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) November 26, 2019
This looks to be an evolution of what the company started back in April. Twitter told TechCrunch that this is part of the company’s plan to bring features from Twttr to the main app. That said, only the “best parts” will be brought over, rather than everything we see now. For now, it’s also unclear which elements the company means by the “best parts”. TechCrunch believes that this means the Reddit-like conversation tree will make the cut, but everything else may not.
As to when we can expect to see these changes, Twitter says the rollout will take place next year. No specific date beyond that was given, unfortunately. It also remains to be seen if there will be an option to revert to the current UI, if users prefer it over the new one.
(Source: Jane Manchung Wong / Twitter, TechCrunch)
