You can “collaborate” on Instagram, but what about Twitter? The social network continues to work on a feature that would allow multiple users to co-author a tweet, referred to as "Collaborations." The option is not publicly available yet and only works after one user accepts a collaboration request from another. It also apparently hints at a possible plan to offer creators a way to partner with companies in advertising deals, something already common on rival social networks like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and others.
The "Collaborations" feature of Twitter was first unearthed from the app code by a mobile developer Alejandro Paluzzi, who, back in December 2021, found shared references indicating that Twitter was working on a way for two people to become co-authors on a single tweet. In this scenario, both the names and identifiers of Twitter of people would appear at the top of the tweet above your content. Earlier this year, Paluzzi uncovered a collaborations button to the tweet editor screen and discovered how co-authors' profile pictures would appear, one overlaid on top of the other, when their tweeted "Collaboration" appeared on Twitter timeline.
aluzzi has returned to find more proof of the feature's development when he tweeted a screenshot explaining how it would work Twitter Collaborations.
Twitter he explains that users would first ask a person or brand to "co-own" a tweet with them and wait for them to accept the request. In other words, you can't force someone to collaborate; it's not just a way to tag someone in a tweet. When the other user accepts the request, both accounts are shown as co-authors on the tweet, he explains. Twitter on this introductory screen.
Paluzzi has not found anything in the code that limits the availability of this feature to only select users, such as creators using Super Follows from Twitter, For example.
Still, this addition of Collaborations is another indication that Twitter is thinking about how its platform could be leveraged in different ways beyond being a virtual plaza or real-time news network.
Among the many new products that Twitter has been testing in recent months is the idea of converting Twitter into a platform for creators, where fans could optionally subscribe to favorite accounts in exchange for exclusive access to fan content such as photos, videos or other media or even private tweets. This function "SuperFollow", as it's called, became available globally late last year and is now accessible to iOS and Android users during this initial testing period. In order to access it, requirements They are that the creator must reside in the United States and have at least 10.000 followers in order to offer a Super Follow subscription to their fans.
It remains to be seen if the creators see Twitter as a viable platform to generate revenue from subscriptions. but twitter Twitter a number of brands using their platform, as well as high-profile users with a large following who could be seen as “influencers” on Twitter. You could potentially combine those two groups with this new Collaborations feature.
Of course, a Collaborations feature could have other use cases besides brand deals. Could be used to publish combined statements from organizations, companies, or individuals; to promote work with multiple authors or creators, such as podcasts, newsletters, or news articles. And it could also be used to meet people who wanted to team up for any other reason.
Twitter only confirmed that the feature was something Twitter was "exploring," but declined to share more about the feature, its plans, or a future release date.
