Twitter has modified rather a lot lately, and particularly extra lately with a subscription service, Areas, and the power to take away followers. Some would possibly say the social media platform is just about unrecognizable from the platform they first joined again in 2006.
I’d say that however now Twitter is, in keeping with Tech Blogger and code-sleuth Jane Manchin Wong testing a brand new function that takes me all the way again to my very own first Tweet on March 19, 2007.
Code-named “Vibe,” the “Set a standing” function would allow you to present to followers what you are doing proper now.
Within the captured function display screen, there is a “What are you doing?” immediate with a dropdown checklist of choices like, “Driving freeway,” “Purchasing grocery,” and “Lurking Twitter”.
This would possibly seem together with your profile, probably even above your tweets. Wong likens it to what Instagram Threads does with “Standing.”
I, nonetheless, see it differently.
When Twitter launched in 2006, the concept was to let followers (normally co-workers, colleagues, pals) know what you had been doing at any given second.
The service’s tagline again then was fairly clear: “A worldwide group of pals and strangers answering one easy query: What are you doing?”
The final sentence seems shiny yellow as if Twitter had run a highlighter throughout it.
That is proper. The wording is precisely identical.
Fifteen years in the past, I had no concept learn how to use Twitter, so I adopted the platform’s directions and easily listed what I used to be doing: “Listening to TWiT. Consuming a bagel. Ingesting my espresso. Typing this word.”
It was arguably a horrible submission, nevertheless, it did reply to the query, “What are you doing?”
The Twitter of 2022 is, clearly, a far different beast. It asks “What’s taking place?” It is a spot to submit what you are pondering, discover concepts, argue, and share a big selection of data, pictures, video, and audio. It is a media platform.
Twitter, maybe sensing that it has moved oceans away from its unique intent, is pondering that just a bit trace of the previous – of its roots – would possibly make Twitter extra partaking, enjoyable, and fewer of a self-serious place.
As an alternative to an indignant tweet concerning the newest political debate or a pitched battle concerning Android versus iOS, there would possibly simply be an old-school standing replacement, one that claims the Twitter member is driving, strolling, or consuming a bagel.
I don’t know if Twitter plans to launch “Set a standing” (I requested Twitter straight and it had nothing to share on the topic), however, I believe it may use this nostalgic function, particularly because it faces the prospect of the latest possession (Hello, Elon Musk!) and possibly some vital modifications that might, once more, change the face of the venerable platform.
4-24-2022: Up to date with Twitter’s response.
