14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter, like any other site dependent on ad revenue, is doing all it can to keep people on the site for as long as possible, even if it means breaking previous functionality. One of the ways it's doing this, which is at least not damaging the service as it used to be, is the Discover tab.
As the name implies, the Discover tab is designed to help users discover tweets and users they may find interesting. Twitter has now redesigned the page, which was introduced about a year ago, to better showcase interesting tweets.
Tweets are now expanded by default, so additional media and info that may be attached to them will be displayed in the stream without any further action.
Images, details on the links and, soon enough, even apps will be exposed in the Discover stream. Apps inside tweets are a big part of the new strategy at Twitter, the new "card" apps are supposed to be the new focus for developers, though, so far, they haven't taken the site by storm.
"We’re improving Discover again: when you visit the Discover tab on twitter.com, you’ll see a continuous stream of Tweets, which automatically expand to show you the most relevant stories and most engaging photos," Twitter wrote.
"We hope you enjoy this new way to discover what's happening now and find new people to follow in a rich stream of Tweets. The updated Discover is rolling out gradually to everyone," it said.
It's still unclear how popular the Discover tab is or how well people are receiving all the new stuff added on top of tweets. It doesn't seem like the regular Twitter usage is changing, people are either following the celebrities or friends they're interested in or engaging in the various conversations springing up on the site.
Still, Twitter plans to make money from ads, something it vowed to be the last option a few years back, so it needs people spending more time on the site and engaging more with it.