How Twitter is Driving Tweet Exposure and Virtual Hangouts

It’s hard to believe more than seven years ago Snapchat unveiled “Stories,” a feature allowing consumers to string together images and videos into a digestible, diary-esque sequence that would disappear after 24 hours. It proved so popular that several other prominent players including Instagram and LinkedIn created their own Stories doppelgängers.

Most recently, Twitter is carving its name in this space. Last month Twitter introduced its own take on stories—fleeting tweets called Fleets. Now it’s making it easier to share Tweets inside stories on other platforms.

Integrating Tweets into Instagram and Snapchat

In the latest move, users can transform Tweets into stickers within Snapchat, with the ability to customize content with other traditional creative elements found across other versions of Stories including captions, filters, and Bitmojis. Previously, if someone wanted to share a tweet on Snapchat, they’d have to resort to taking a screenshot of it and manually inserting it as an image, without having access to any of Snapchat’s camera or editing features for added flair.

Here’s the full breakdown:

• Tap the share icon on a Tweet (it must be public — not a protected tweet)
• Select the Snapchat icon at the bottom of the share menu to create the sticker. This will open directly to your iOS Camera and generate an immovable sticker if you are already signed in and not in the process of creating a separate Snap
• Take your Snap — either photo or video — and customize with captions and Snapchat Creative Tools including your Bitmoji, Cameo and Filters
• Select the blue “Send” button to distribute to individual friends or groups
• Once shared, the Snap will link back to the Tweet  thread on Twitter where you can see the whole conversation

Outside of Snapchat, Twitter also revealed it will soon launch a small test of a similar feature to let iOS users share tweets in Instagram Stories.

Doubling down on virtual experiences and live video

In the virtual hangout realm, Twitter also announced its acquisition of the video app Squad. Per TechCrunch, the startup’s co-founders, CEO Esther Crawford and CTO Ethan Sutin, along with the rest of Squad’s team will now join Twitter’s team across its design, engineering and product departments.

Similar to the likes of Houseparty, Squad allows groups to connect with each other in real-time but the key differentiator that helps it rise above the noise is screen-sharing. As shown in this example, any chat participant can share their screen which can spur discussion around other platforms and content forms including private messages. Put differently, the objective here is context and facilitation of broader discussion around Tweets.
Squad will help Twitter “bring new ways for people to interact, express themselves, and join in the public conversation,” Twitter VP of Product, Ilya Brown, shared in a tweet.

Earlier this year, the startup noted that its usage had increased 1100% as a result of the lockdowns due to the global pandemic. It also garnered $7.2 million in venture capital from First Round, Y Combinator, betaworks, Halogen Ventures, and ex-TechCrunch editor Alexia Bonatsos’s Dream Machine amongst several other investors.

The future of multi-participant chat

2020 was a case in point that to succeed, platforms must innovate and provide new functionality to expand app usage. Tools including interactive Q&As, live chats, gaming, and livestreaming are golden tickets to ensuring longevity for their ability to help both creators and brands achieve more personal forms of entertainment and monetize their offerings.

While the future of Fleets may be uncertain, Twitter’s acquisition of Squad feels like a step in the right direction to standing the offering up. Connection to real-time trends and close friends is tablestakes in today’s landscape and perhaps this move will open the floodgate for a revamp of Twitter’s app. For instance, a dedicated tab emphasizing video clips and discussions via Squad. With the angle of simple, multi-participant chat, it also ticks another important box regarding consumers craving more intimate interactions that are welcomed versus those that are forced and disruptive.

Image credit via TechCrunch

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