Twitter announced today that it’s getting to begin testing a replacement feature called Communities. Because the name suggests, Twitter Communities will allow people with shared interests to make groups about those interests, which is very similar to Facebook Groups. There’ll, however, be some significant differences between the way Facebook and Twitter handle their communities.
In a post to its blog today, Twitter explains that only members will be allowed to post and reply to existing posts in Communities, which is how Facebook does it too. However, one significant difference between the two platforms comes from the indisputable fact that Twitter Communities will still be public and visual to everyone. Meaning everyone on Twitter will be ready to read or maybe Quote Tweet posts from a Community, albeit they aren’t a member of it.
imagine an alternate timeline where everyone just gets you
say hi to Communities—the place to connect with people who Tweet like you. testing now on iOS and web, Android soon! pic.twitter.com/TJdKwUa4D2
— Twitter Communities (@JoinCommunities) September 8, 2021
Just as well, Community posts also can be reported by everyone no matter membership status. So, Communities aren’t private in any real sense but more restricted for the needs of keeping conversations focused on a selected topic. Twitter says that Community rules will be set by their moderators, who can also name other members as moderators. So, it is little surprise that communities need to follow Twitter’s rules, while moderators have a group of guidelines that they’re expected to follow to continue managing their Communities.
During the first stages of testing, Twitter says that Community creation will be restricted to only a couple of topics: dogs, weather, sneakers, skincare, and astrology. After that, Twitter users will be invited by either moderators or existing members before joining a particular Community. Still, Twitter says that it’ll open up more ways to hitch and recruit within the future.
For now, Twitter Communities are testing on iOS and the web, with Android testing arising soon consistent with Twitter. For now, there’s no indication of when Twitter Communities might officially launch for everybody, but we’ll keep you posted there on the front.
