14 DAY TRIAL // Twitter is clearly aiming at becoming a news app, especially since it moved from the social networking category to news in the App Store and Google Play Store. Users of the service will soon receive a new feature for getting the latest news.
Currently, Twitter users need to adjust some in-app settings in order to get alerts from their favorite news outlets and get notified when new articles are added. If Twitter wants to truly become the go-to app for news, then it must equip the app with features that would increase user retention and give out alerts for various news, including entertainment ones.
This is specifically what Twitter is focused on, a recent report shows that Twitter has started testing breaking news push notifications in its official app. The users who have reported getting notifications are currently using iOS devices, it remains to be seen when Android users will receive the same notifications.
Twitter is sending breaking news notifications based on user interests
A Twitter spokesperson stated that the alerts are part of an ongoing trial. The company might have started the trial a few months ago.
It seems that Twitter is sending out alerts to various groups of people, based on an evaluation of their interests. Push notifications were sent for the US election, Olympics, TV shows on ABC, and the recent attack at the Berlin Christmas market.
When users tap on the notification, the app opens Twitter Moments containing posts from across Twitter, focusing on a single trending topic. The breaking news push notifications are currently in testing phase, which means that there’s no guarantee if they’re here to stay. Users who don’t like the notifications can access the settings menu and turn them off.
Recently, Twitter introduced live video for Android and iOS devices, as it continues to integrate Periscope features into its main app.