Twitter tries to use feature as a spark for growth.

There have been many changes surrounding Twitter recently. CEO Dick Costolo stepped down, the social networking site increased the 140-character count in their Direct Messaging feature and an auto-play feature for videos has been announced. There have also been concerns surrounding Twitter’s stocks because the company has struggled to increase user growth and deliver a clear business initiative. According to reports, Twitter has announced its new feature called Project Lighting in an attempt to help increase growth.

What is Project Lightning?

This new feature will change the way users interact with live news and event based content. Unveiled as “Moments,” the new service will focus on live events such as award shows, sports, breaking news and other live events. “It could be current events. It could be breaking news,” reported Kevin Weil, Senior Vice President of product at Twitter. This announcement arose after other brands such as Apple and Facebook revealed their own news curating features.

The design plan for Twitter’s Project Lightning is to have a button with a lightning bolt icon located in the middle of Twitter’s mobile application.

After the user clicks on the lightning bolt, they will be taken to Moments. The user will be instructed how to use the new feature until they finally reach a “Go Now” button.

When a user taps on the button, the user will be directed to trending events that they find interesting. Users will then be exposed to a collection of multimedia for the event. This collection is made up of periscopes, videos, images and tweets that will take up the full-screen of the users mobile device. The user will also be able to swipe through this content.

This collection of events will be separate from your normal timeline. While it is true that data tools and algorithms will help identify potential trending events, it is actually people who will choose the events showcased on Project Lightning. The content curated by human editors will be lead by Katie Jacobs Stanton, Twitter’s VP of Global Media, and it was reported that the members of the editorial team will have backgrounds in journalism and an editorial policy is currently being developed.

With Project Lightning, you can also follow an event, instead of a person, until its conclusion. After the event is finished, it will blend into your normal timeline and provide additional information should it arise.

Twitter also reports that the content will be embedded into the web and other apps so that you do not have to be logged in or even a member to see these events. While this is truly an interesting update for Twitter, the public will have to wait a few months until its release because it has not yet been given a date.

Why introduce Project Lightning?

For years, Twitter has been a leader among social networking sites for news on live events. According to a report from The New York Times, approximately 300 million people use the micro-blogging service on a monthly basis; and more than a billion people have signed up and then quit Twitter. These shocking numbers may be due to both investors and new users expressing how it can be difficult to join conversation on events in Twitter.

Find Your Interests

Project Lightning is designed to help customers easily find content they are interesting in. If users wanted to join the Twitter conversation, they would have to explore hashtags and trending topics that would often provide content that offered little to no insight. Users would have to investigate what event was happening and who to follow. This feature simplifies the process.

Follow Events

Instead of following people tweeting about the event, you follow the event itself. When following people, you will see tweets that are unrelated to the event such as their political views or updates about their lives. This feature prevents you from receiving those tweets and instead immerses you in the event with rich visual and informative content.

Potential Growth

This new feature will also help Twitter’s brand grow. Twitter has been under pressure to monetize and investors have expressed concern about not obtaining new users or developing no new products or services. Project Lightning has the potential to obtain a vast amount of new followers.

To use this new feature, you do not have to be logged into Twitter or even be a member. Twitter can reach people who don’t want to go through the trouble of setting up an account. This service can show the public the benefits of the micro-blogging site, which may attract the public to join the service.

Project Lightning & Marketing

There are many marketing opportunities with Project Lightning. Twitter can sell ads beyond their promoted tweets that appear in a user’s timeline. These ads will no longer be exclusive to frequent Twitter users. This opens up new possibilities for Twitter to create partnerships with businesses involved with the popular event and create marketing strategies with to drive conversions and increase revenue.

At Kraus Marketing, we are vigilant about remaining knowledgeable about new and emerging trends on social media. For the newest updates in digital marketing, make sure to follow up on Twitter.

To learn more about Kraus Marketing and the services we offer, contact us at (973) 998-5742 or visit us online at www.KrausMarketing.com.