Be honest now, is 240 characters enough for you to fully convey your thoughts and opinions? Can you provide something that has complete context with such short parameters? If you’re struggling with this, then you’re in luck, as Twitter is now developing a range of new status indicators that will eventually provide a simple way to add another element to your Tweets, which could help boost your message’s intent and meaning.

Testing 1, 2

Or it could do jack-squat. As shared by Reverse Engineering and App Expert Jane Manchun Wong, Twitter’s current pool of selectable statuses make a pretty unique set of combinations – from trending sayings to popular activities. While users won’t be able to make custom statuses just yet, they at least have access to some decent presets. Could be handy. Maybe.

Twitter has been testing this out for a while now, with the original list of options, including a few that have already been removed as part of this expansion. When a user adds a status, it’ll be displayed above their Tweet and below their username, adding more context to their message. Status indicators can also be looked up, allowing users to tap through a status, which will then take them to a listing of all Tweets that have applied the same indicator.

Twitter has been testing out the options since 2018. Back then, the idea was to help people list events that they were attending, which users often already do by adding an event Hashtag to their username. A status indicator would make this easier, while also helping people connect around said event. Twitter has since revised its approach to status indicators, making them more of a topical sorting option to help users find relevant engagement opportunities and activities.

Maybe tapping on ‘Picture of the Day’ could become another discovery and engagement element, or tapping through ‘Hot Take’ could help you find more Tweets to interact with and add your own opinion to. It could even be a handy sorting tool that Twitter hopes it would be.

The Wrap

Twitter does have the potential to be a great platform, but its constant struggle to recommend relevant content and generally unoptimized discovery algorithms prove to be its greatest weakness. If Twitter can get things right with all its new elements, then, perhaps, it can change the engagement tide to be in its favor. If Twitter can somehow refine and upgrade its relatively primitive topic algorithms, then perhaps will it be a more appealing option for users who are particular about connecting with people and topics that are more akin to their interests, which, in turn, would slowly see Twitter engagement and Twee activity rise. This is a step closer in that direction. There are no official release dates yet, but it could be that these are coming real soon.

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Sources 

https://bit.ly/3CwErk3