The State Of Twitter’s ‘Discovery’ Tab.
I have only been using Medium for a few months, and one things that has really impressed me is how the site manages it’s content.
I’m talking about Collections. I think it’s a great way for content to be seperated depending on what it’s actually about, giving things a little more structure and also aiding discovery in the process.
It’s easier to find content if the user is able to delve into a certain subject or certain category before they even begin to open their eyes. It got me thinking about how people actually discover content and how more sites could do with a system like Mediums.
Before we do, let’s get one thing straight, this is not a new system. If the wording was a little different it would project a totally different feeling. Imagine if it was called Categories. That’s basically what they are, but the wording Medium chose just adds that little something more. You could say it makes it a little more precious. Very subliminal, yet impressive design decision by the guys in San Francisco.
If you have ever used Wordpress, you will be familiar with both tags and categories that sort content within the CMS. I feel like Collections is a beautiful mix between those two concepts.
So, what about Twitter?
The more I thought about it, the more I could see a system like this working on Twitter. Think about that for a moment.
I think we can all agree that when you press the Explore/Discover tab on Twitter, you’re not blown away. Usually, I’m presented with a news story from about 5 days ago… Twice.
Twitter needs to change, it’s time for it to evolve into something better, something a little more dynamic. I think adding something like Collections would do that and more. Discovery would become sensational. It will take time, but the end result would be a live curation of millions of people’s thoughts.
Remember, this is Twitter we’re talking about. There’s around 400 million tweets sent every single day. Whilst you have been reading this very sentence, around 2,500 people have tweeted.
It’s time to create a more sophisticated version of Twitter. Images, videos and articles on the web would also be found inside a Card. It’s the web, curated. Twitter could become a search engine.
That’s a lot of data, and there’s no great way to organise it other than one simple timeline, a few hashtags and a search function. I love Twitter, I really do, but if there’s one thing that lets it down it’s content discovery and the ability to troll through that content.
For now, I’m going to call Twitter’s version of Collections ‘Cards’. I think it sounds quite simple, but it’s not great.
The user will have the option to search through Cards, via text, from A-Z or by the Cards that are currently trending (Boston Marathon, MIT, Revolution, BitCoin).
Let’s say the user clicks/taps on “Boston Marathon”. They can then see all the latest tweets on the subject, or all of the top tweets. This is a real chance for Twitter to turn around something that I feel has never been right. I’m sure there’s some people out there who think the current system is fine, but I feel this would be a truly great addition.
Think of the potential it brings to Twitter. The user already has the ability to see what the world is thinking, but now they can zoom in even further. Now they can find exactly what they’re looking by reaching inside the topics/genres they care about.
I’m yet to decide how a user posts a tweet into a Card. Does Twitter handle that for everyone, making the whole system automatic? I suppose if someone was to tweet the following:
This world needs healing #PrayForBoston
Then that would be placed in the “Boston Marathon” card as soon as you Tweeted. It’s time to create a more sophisticated version of Twitter. Images, videos and articles on the web would also be found inside a Card. It’s the web, curated. Twitter could become a search engine.
I’m going to end this by returning to Medium. I saw a post on here about a week ago that likened the Collections system to a magazine. I’m going to try and put what I read into my own words:
The thing is, when you see a magazine, you don’t pick it up because you want to read that one article from that one guy that you know. You pick it up because you like what’s on the cover, you like what the whole thing is about, and you’re opening yourself to new content about that subject. You are ready to explore, ready to Discover.
I took this whole thing one step further and actually started to create a live version of what I think Twitter should look like whilst browsing the ‘Discovery’ tab, follow me on Twitter for some updates.
I would love to know what everyone else thinks. Would Collections, or something similar, work on Twitter?
Do you think the current state of discovery is good enough for the user-base that the site contains?
Your move, Twitter.
Twitter: ItsJoeTurner
Dribbble: ItsJoeTurner
