All the features that Twitter rolled out in 2021 – Times of India

The year 2021 is almost about to end and it has been a busy year for social media platform Twitter. From crypto to the Olympics and Squid Games to Adele’s album, there was plenty for the users of this social media platform to keep them talking. Twitter has shared a statement stating that the company’s “monetisable daily active users grew 13% year-over-year to 211 million in Q3 2021.” Some of the other biggest update from this company is stated below
Twitter recently introduced new ways to have conversations and earn money through the platform and has worked on its security to keep it safe and inclusive. The company has also shipped several product updates and features along with testing ways to make it easier for people to join and follow conversations to understand what worked and what didn’t
Twitter parted ways with the Fleets and the Periscope feature and introduced a new way to have live audio conversations on Twitter through Twitter Spaces. The company claims that it has continued to iterate and deliver features and improvements to its products based on direct feedback from the users. Here are the features that Twitter has added to the service in the year 2021:
Communities on Twitter
Twitter started testing Communities on Twitter in September 2021 to connect people who want to talk about the same topics. When you join a Community, you can tweet directly to that group instead of to all your followers. Only members in the same Community are able to reply and join a conversation, and Communities are managed by moderators.
This feature is available on Twitter for iOS and Web globally. Twitter says that it is working to launch the Android app functionality before the end of the year.
Twitter Blue
The company started testing a special subscription service called Twitter Blue in June 2021 that gives people access to exclusive features and perks. This subscription offering is meant to add enhanced and complementary features to the already existing Twitter experience. Some of the perks include Ad-free Articles, Top Articles, Bookmark Folders, Undo Tweet, and Reader Mode.
This service is available on Twitter for iOS and Android in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Twitter Spaces
This feature was introduced in May 2021 for live audio conversations on Twitter. According to the company, hearing people’s voices brings conversations to life. “Spaces encourage and unlock real, open conversations with the authenticity and nuance only the human voice can bring,” says the company. Twitter has constantly rolled out new features for Spaces which added several improvements to the product like — like scheduling Spaces, recording Spaces (for replays) and a Spaces tab to help find conversations that might be interesting to join. The feature is available on Twitter for iOS, Android and web globally.
Super Follows
This feature was unveiled in September 2021 and gives creators the opportunity to earn monthly revenue by sharing tweets meant only for paying subscribers. Here the creators are responsible for starting, influencing and amplifying many of those conversations. people can create an extra level of conversation on Twitter and interact authentically with their most engaged followers — all while earning money — through a monthly subscription with Super Follows.
This service is only available on Twitter for iOS for a select set of US creators, though anyone globally can Super Follow those creators. You can apply for the waitlist by visiting Monetization > Super Follows in the sidebar of your Twitter for iOS app.
Revue by Twitter
In August 2021, Twitter acquired Revue, a service that makes it free and easy for anyone to start and publish editorial newsletters, to accelerate our work to support all types of writers and a way to monetize their audience. It launched a way for newsletter creators to add a subscribe button directly on their Twitter Profiles. It is available on Twitter for iOS and Android. The subscribe button is only available for a test group on Android and web.
Ticketed Spaces
Twitter introduced Ticketed Spaces in June 2021 to support creators on Twitter for their time and effort in hosting, speaking, and moderating live audio conversations. Creators can earn a share of revenue from tickets purchased by audiences to attend exclusive Spaces, whether it’s a workshop, meet-and-greet with their most loyal fans or even a concert. It is available on Twitter for iOS and Android for a select set of US creators and expected to expand to other markets in the coming year.
Tips
Tips was introduced by Twitter in May 2021 that allowed people to receive and show support with money. Twitter says that it takes no cut, and payments are facilitated through third party services like PayPal, Patreon, Razorpay and more. Users can choose to add Tips to their profile through their account settings. It also added alternative payment services to Tips – and allowed people to pay each other through Bitcoin using Strike, a payments application built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, so people can send and receive Bitcoin Tips free and instantly. It is available globally on Twitter for iOS and Android.
Safety Mode
Safety Mode is a feature that was tested in September with a small group of people including female journalists and people from marginalised communities to better protect the individual on the receiving end of tweets by reducing the prevalence and visibility of harmful remarks. Safety Mode temporarily auto-block accounts that respond to your tweets with potentially harmful language — such as insults or hateful remarks — or those that send repetitive and uninvited replies or mentions. It is being tested on Twitter for iOS and Android with a select set of users with English-language settings enabled.
Choose who follows you
Twitter released this feature in September 2021 as users wanted more control over their timelines and their followers. The company rolled out a feature to help users curate their own follower list. Without directly Blocking someone, any person can go in, tap through to their list of Followers and actively remove that person from following them. It is available globally on Twitter for the web.
Improving media on Twitter
Twitter has upgraded the quality of photos and videos posted to Twitter in September 2021 and began testing edge to edge tweets for photos, GIFs and videos to have more room to shine. Users can share their tweets to Instagram and YouTube to give people even more ways to express themselves. It is being tested on Twitter for iOS and Android.
Bringing more reliable context to conversations
Twitter is committed to provide reliable context to help people make informed decisions about what they see on Twitter. To build on its Curation team’s ongoing work to surface credible information on Twitter, it began to work with The Associated Press (AP) and Reuters to expand its efforts to identify and elevate credible information on Twitter in August 2021. It is available on Twitter for iOS and Android for English-language content in US, UK and India.
New and Improved Misinfo Labels
Twitter has rolled out redesigned misinformation labels to help people more easily know when a tweet’s content is potentially misleading in July 2021. These labels will appear with colour-coded backgrounds, making them much more visible in the feed while giving people a way to quickly parse the information from visual cues. It has found that even tiny shifts in design could impact how people interact with labeled tweets, with more people clicking into the new labels for additional context, and fewer people Retweeting or liking potentially misleading tweets with those labels. It is available on Twitter for most people globally.
Your Tweets = Your Space
To give people more control over the conversations they start, Twitter rolled out a Conversation Settings update to allow people to “Change who can reply” to a Tweet midway through a conversation in July 2021. It has learned that Conversation Settings help some people feel safer by limiting these unwanted replies so they can participate in more meaningful conversations, while still allowing people to see different points of view. It is available on Twitter for iOS, Android and web globally.
One step closer to an inclusive internet
Twitter says that it is important to it that the platform reflects the many voices that shape the conversation on the service, which is why it launched a new language setting that acknowledges and better supports the Arabic feminine form in June 2021. People who select this setting will be addressed in the feminine form, for example, “tweet” will be غرّدي (which addresses women) rather than the default Arabic today, which is غرّد (addressing men). It is available on Twitter for the web
Say goodbye to auto-cropping
After successful testing, Twitter rolled out improvements to how images appear on user’s Home timeline in May 2021. This work is a direct result of the feedback people shared with the company last year that the way its algorithm cropped images wasn’t equitable. Now, tweets that include a single, standard aspect ratio image appear uncropped. Tweet authors are also able to see a preview of what the image will look like in the tweet composer tool before it’s posted. This was a first step of its larger plan to improve media on Twitter, so that people can share and see content in its original intended form and have more flexibility and control over how their photos appear on their timeline. It is available globally on Twitter for iOS, Android and the web.
New ways to identify accounts on Twitter
Twitter wants to make it easier for everyone to know who they’re interacting with. One way to do that for notable & authentic accounts is through the blue verified badge. In May 2021, the company rolled out its new verification application and began once again reviewing public applications for the blue check mark.. Eligibility criteria is more transparent thanks to its new policy that was largely shaped by public feedback. Verification is just one way to identify yourself on Twitter, but it also started to roll out account labels to allow accounts to self-identify – beginning with good bots (or automated accounts). Good bots help people find useful, entertaining and relevant information every day – from sharing art masterpieces, to notifying people of earthquakes, to even just reminding you to get some fresh air #selfcare. Twitter plans to launch more account labels in 2022. It will be rolling out to people globally on Twitter for iOS, Android and web.
Tweeting with consideration
In 2020, Twitter tested prompts to encourage people to pause and reconsider a potentially harmful or offensive reply before pressing send. These tests showed that if prompted, 34% of people revised their initial reply or decided not to send their reply at all. It also showed that after being prompted once, people composed, on average, 11% fewer offensive replies in the future. In May 2021, Twitter made a range of new improvements to these prompts, including considering the relationship between the author and the replier and how often they interact, as well as improvements to its technology to more accurately detect strong language, including profanity.
A community-based approach to misinformation
Twitter also launched Birdwatch in January 2021 to empower people on the platform to collaboratively add helpful notes to tweets that may be misleading. People in the pilot are able to publicly offer helpful context on Tweets that they believe contain misleading information. It is being tested on Twitter for iOS, Android and the web in the US.
Moving into 2022, Twitter aims to continue to encourage the global, public conversation to make it easy for people to connect with what they care about, while helping everyone on Twitter curate their own experiences, be rewarded for the content they’re creating, and feel safe and in control.