Conversation is a superpower. But what if we can make it even better?
By Sarah Personette (@SEP), Chief Customer Officer, Twitter
Conversation connects people, lets us share knowledge and inspires creativity and innovation. At Twitter, it’s the center of everything we do.
And we think it can be so much more.
Twitter’s purpose is to serve the public conversation. Because we believe that public conversation – a free exchange of ideas and information, open for everyone to join – benefits society by solving common problems, inspiring new ideas, even making us LOL.
When people talk, beautiful, wonderful, powerful things happen.
Public conversation connects people. It lets us find common ground we never knew we had. It introduces us to new perspectives. Bonds us over our shared love of K-pop, sports, and silly memes. And helps us understand each other and the world we share, so we’re never in this alone.
Public conversation makes education more accessible. When information changes daily…no, hourly…the public conversation helps everyone keep up in real time. Not just the privileged but anyone who wants to access it.
Public conversation also inspires creativity and innovation. It pushes us to explore new ideas and expressions from diverse backgrounds and cultures. It sparks our imagination and blesses us with new art, new voices and new creations ready to change the world.
Public conversation, though, isn’t without its challenges. Talk can evolve quickly and sometimes gets heated. Some people feel left out. And the joy and laughter get overshadowed (boo!). So we’re reimagining the public conversation to be more healthy, valuable and open to all.
Healthy conversations
It all starts with a safer Twitter.
Providing a safe and healthy platform is our most important job. Because conversation thrives when people trust what they see and feel comfortable participating. So we’re reimagining new ways for dialogue to feel respectful, informative, and definitely less all-caps.
Like Twitter’s proactive prompts, which are designed to make people think twice about the words they use or to read the articles they’re sharing before actually sharing them. These features are based on the belief that when given the opportunity, people will take the high road.
Or our Birdwatch experiment which empowers the very people who are part of a conversation to contextualize information and escalate to us for enforcement when needed. And our new Communities feature we started rolling out this year allows people with common interests to choose how to best moderate their group’s behavior.
We’re also committed to identifying misinformation with labeled Tweets and removing it from Twitter as soon as possible so both people and brands can get truthful, credible information.
Ultimately, everyone should have control over their experience without fear of misinformation or bullying. So we’re testing ways for people or brands to remove followers or remove themselves from conversations. And we’re just getting started.
Valuable conversations
Starting a public conversation should be worth it. Literally.
The true value of conversation shouldn’t just be about Likes or Retweets. It should be about pure expression. Saying something and being heard. Sharing ideas that get people thinking, laughing, or learning. And yes, being fairly compensated, too.
We launched Twitter Spaces to give people and brands a way to share their expression through audio – using their voice to have a voice. And with Revue, anyone can create long-form written content whenever they’ve got something to say that goes beyond 280 characters.
But value is also about getting paid. Super Follows is a monthly subscriber-only content initiative that’s like a backstage pass to your favorite Twitter accounts.
With Ticketed Spaces, Creators can charge for access to their exclusive live audio experiences, like an interview or a listening party.
Our new Tips feature even lets people support whatever they want, whether it’s a creator, a cause, or just someone needing help with rent. And just so everyone gets paid quickly and seamlessly, we’re giving them the options to use Cash App, Venmo, Patreon, Bandcamp or Bitcoin.
All of this opens up the power of conversation for brands. When more Creators bring more followers, brands win too.
We’re giving even more businesses a chance to succeed with Twitter for Professionals, a new suite of tools for anyone who comes to Twitter to do business. And retailers can test new e-commerce tools like Shop Module and eventually features from our Live Shopping experiment to drive sales right in the timeline. Because every person and professional deserves to have more valuable conversations.
Open, accessible conversations
Whose conversation is this anyway? Hint: It’s yours.
The public conversation is at its best when everyone, everywhere has a voice. So we’re imagining a conversation shaped by people, without borders — geographical, economic, technological — holding them back.
We’re growing our service in underserved areas like Ghana. To make sure more people can be part of the public conversation.
Our new Twitter Developer Platform lets outside developers tap into our Public API to build what’s next – from searching for new Twitter Spaces to exploring the global impacts of climate change. This opens up a whole new future for people and brands everywhere to get the most out of the conversations on Twitter.
Ultimately, we believe in an open, decentralized future that provides equal access through a free flow of information and currency. So we’ve started Bluesky, an independent project of brilliant technologists and developers, with the sole aim of creating a shared standard that frees conversation from any single platform or entity.
More people, having more conversations, creating more opportunities for brands to connect.
This conversation is just getting started.
Conversation has always been the connecting force in the world. Now, it’s time to reimagine everything it can be. From the value it can offer our Creators and brands; to the safe, healthy space for voices everywhere; to the open ownership and control that everyone deserves.
Conversation has taken us to unbelievable places. We’re excited to see where it goes next. Are you in?
This article, in its original form, was previously published on marketing.twitter.com on December 9, 2021. Subscribe for the latest marketing insights from Twitter. Delivered right to your inbox.
