Twitter is making it much easier to find people to follow, in a bid to breathe some life into the social network.
Mobile users will now find a new Connect tab dedicated to surfacing interesting accounts that Twitter thinks will suit you personally.
“Finding new accounts to follow used to require jumping through a few hoops and a dash of luck,” explains Ricardo Castro, Product Manager at Twitter. “That’s why we’ve reimagined the experience with our new Connect tab.”
“Starting today, you’ll see a detailed list of people and accounts we think you’ll enjoy following, all easily accessible in one place,” Castro continues.
Here’s what Connect looks like:
https://twitter.com/statuses/727517992863588352
Twitter says that to give you the best recommendations, it will look at the following things:
- Who you already follow
- Tweets you like
- Popular Accounts in your local area
- What’s happening in the world right now
But what’s particularly useful is that Twitter will tell you why it’s recommending a particular account. For instance, if Twitter suggests you follow @Tim_Cook, it will explain that the result was surfaced because you already follow @AppleSupport.
The Connect tab can also be synced to your phone’s address book, which means it should be easier to connect with your friends and family. Twitter will also alert you when someone from your contacts joins Twitter.
Twitter says that the Connect tab will roll out today on iOS and Android. To get the new feature, you’ll need to update your app first. When Connect is available for you, you’ll be notified with a little blue prompt.
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Twitter already had a ‘Find People’ section buried in its app menu, but it appears that Connect will be a much more fleshed out version of this feature.
It’s a clear attempt to encourage more activity on Twitter after the social network recently reported slow growth in user numbers, sparking a dramatic fall in Twitter’s stock price.
Twitter currently serves around 305 million monthly active users globally however, which is no small figure.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
