Twitter Announces Changes Ahead of World Cup

Twitter announced Wednesday it would be updating its services to make it easier for users to find content about major events such as natural disasters and the FIFA World Cup that begins on Thursday.

"We're keeping you informed about what matters by showing the tweets, conversations and perspectives around topics you care about," Keith Coleman, product vice president, said in a blog post. "Our goal is to make following what's happening as easy as following an account."

Users will receive notifications about breaking news stories based on their personal interests — the accounts they follow or what they tweet about, Coleman explained. These notifications will become available in the coming weeks to users in the United States. When clicked, users will be taken to a specialized timeline about the topic.

"If someone uses Twitter all the time, they'll have a perfectly curated timeline," Twitter spokesperson Liz Kelley told VOA. "But if you don't have those things in place, there's maybe a better way for us to present that."

The app will also link to related topics at the top of its search results. Another update includes a change in the format of the "Moments" tab, which will now be accessed by scrolling vertically rather than horizontally. The tab, which hosts collections of tweets about major events, is curated by a global team, Kelley said, and is available in five languages across 16 different countries.

Coleman also announced a dedicated page for the World Cup, which will be available in 10 languages and have individualized timelines for each game of the 32-team tournament. Kelley told VOA that users should be able to see every goal of the tournament through the app.

"Our long-term strategy is making it easier for people to see what's happening on Twitter," Kelley said. "Really, we're organizing and presenting content in a way that's easier to discover and consume."