Twitter has formally unveiled a new feature called “threads” that lets you easily create a series of connected tweets, otherwise known as a tweet storm, making the tool an official part of the micro-blogging service after several months of testing it. The tweet storm feature was first spotted last September when one Twitter user noticed the appearance of what seemed like chained tweets displayed as an interlinked thread on the site. The feature also initially went live for a small number of users last month.
Threading is a method of stitching relevant tweets into a single post, and this capability has been in existence for quite a while now, with Twitter’s Product Manager Sasank Reddy noting that people are posting hundreds of thousands of threads on a daily basis. However, there were some notable challenges to this method for some users and it was also difficult sometimes to view all the tweets. Twitter’s latest move aims to make it easier to string tweets together and help you easily discover threads. With the official unveiling of the new feature, you can now start creating threads simply by tapping on the plus button in the Twitter composer and typing your series of tweets. Essentially, this allows you to compose a longer story despite Twitter’s character limit, which was previously expanded to 280 characters from the previous 140. Keep in mind that the 280-character limit still applies to each line of tweet as per usual, and you can add more lines of tweets by tapping on the “Add another tweet” button as well as insert any media to each line in the thread. Click on the “Tweet all” button at the top of the composer to finally share the threaded post.
You can also edit your thread even if it has already been posted by just tapping the Add another tweet button again. In an effort to address concerns that threads might lead to a cluttered Twitter news feed, the micro-blogging site is displaying the first line of tweets in the timeline as usual followed by the second and third lines. For threads that consist of more than three lines of tweets, there is a “Show this thread” button to reveal the entire thread to your followers. The feature is set to roll out to Android and iOS devices as well as to the desktop version of the website over the next few weeks.