Twitter is launching a new feature it’s calling “Project Lightning” later this year (the official name hasn’t been announced yet).
This feature will allow editors at Twitter to aggregate photos, videos and tweets from live events and breaking news stories into one place.
Users can then scroll through the filtered “top”, handpicked content to watch the event unfold live through the content.
They key here is that this feature will be available through Twitter’s app, as well as their main website for users who aren’t logged in.
This is part of Twitter’s strategy to show its value to non-Twitter users and encourage them to open accounts, as well as help justify that non-logged in users who see tweets should be counted as “active users”, thereby closing the gap between Twitter’s quarterly performance report of monthly new and active users versus Facebook’s.
I also believe this is a strategic move to stay competitive by capitalizing on one of its strengths –the platform of choice for breaking news – by introducing this feature.
It also reiterates how social platforms have a tendency to copy each other's ideas to stay competitive - Mashable comments on "Project Lightning's" similarity to Snapchat Stories and Facebook's "Moments".
This is a tumultuous time for Twitter as it searches for a new CEO (Dick Costolo stepped down last week) while fighting to stay competitive in a tough industry.
The question is…will “Project Lightning” help the company’s numbers?
We shall see.