News in the Twitter application for Android. These come in the form of a new feature called Highlights and, at the moment, it is only available in development for the operating system of the Mountain View company. The fact is that with the new addition you can find out the most prominent messages of the current situation that may be interesting for the user.
What is clear is that with this new function a service that needs the use of an algorithm to work properly, so it will work in a similar way to how Facebook does. Of course, Twitter has quickly indicated that Highlights is much less "intrusive" than the one used by Mark Zuckerberg's company.
The fact is that with Highlights what happens is that news or prominent topics are selected from the user's timeline (such as ten or twelve). And, in addition, the highlights that occur in the social network itself are also taken into account and, also, the messages of the people who know each other. And, by means of the aforementioned algorithm, they are shown in the Android application. It's that simple and complicated at the same time, since the important thing about the new service is that it hits the recommendations right, not that it makes them.
In addition to filtering what is relevant, Highlights sends notifications up to twice a day with a quick summary of what's best for you. When you open that alert, a card-based interface within the native Twitter app, which allows you to swipe horizontally to review each element visually, intuitively, and quickly.
The selection is normally composed of a dozen tweets and topics. The algorithm prioritizes what mention your contacts on your timeline, what occurs near your location, trends that gain traction and posts from accounts you maintain a relationship with close bondThis balances personal context and global conversation.
How to activate Highlights on Android
The service requires manual activation to get started. In the official app:
- Opens Configuration and choose your account.
- Sign in Notifications on mobile.
- Check the box Highlights.
- You will receive periodic alerts and you will see an access to the card view.
Differences with "While You Were Away"
While you were away displays a specific block of recent tweets that might interest you when you open the app. Highlights, on the other hand, is a scheduled experience that arrives via notification, with broader curation (people, topics, and trends) and viewable cards you can scroll through.
Global deployment, but slow
The arrival of Highlights Twitter for Android is taking place globally, but in phases so it is not available in all regions at the moment (an example of what we say is that, at this time, it can only be used in the developments in English). But it has been confirmed that little by little it will arrive in other languages. Besides, it is necessary to activate the service manually for it to start its activity.
Introducing Highlights. Get the best of Twitter every day, sent to your Android device: https://t.co/9ZUWgX9lcC pic.twitter.com/sYuu7YUO4D
- Twitter (@twitter) April 23, 2015
The new Highlights functionality does not sound bad at all, although the use of an algorithm that works with the tastes of the users is something that some may not like (well, in this case, its use can be deactivated). The fact is that this seems to be an attempt to clean interface than what is shown in the Twitter application for Android. By the way, in this case, contrary to what happened with the ndevelopments in the "retweets", development for Google's operating system is the first to receive the novelty. Good for Twitter, right?
For those who want to stay up to date without spending hours refreshing the timeline, Highlights summarize the essentials, prioritizing proximity, relevance, and connections. Setting it up is simple, it can be disabled at any time, and it offers a balance between discovery y control that fits with mobile use.
Source: Twitter.