Micro-blogging site Twitter is testing a profile preview feature to make it easier for users to follow conversation threads.
The new feature will float a preview of the profile on tapping any @ handle in a Tweet. The user can see the replier’s full twitter bio, follower counts, and when they joined the service. It works both within threads and outside it in the main feed.
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There’s an option to jump to the full profile as well as all of the standard share options that are normally seen by tapping the share button on a tweet, but tailored for the user’s profile instead. Twitter says the feature should be arriving for Android users soon.
We’re testing an easier way to check out profiles on iOS without leaving your timeline! Simply tap any @ handle in a Tweet, take a peek, follow, and get right back to it. Let us know what you think! pic.twitter.com/dIUFxI2r4C
— Twitter (@Twitter) February 13, 2019
In a recent interview, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says,’The company is hard at work on the issue, and one new feature Twitter is testing – a kind of profile preview overlay – aims to address the problem of following threaded conversations. Typically, when you look at a tweet’s replies and then click on the photo or name of the person replying, you’ll be taken to their profile automatically. That tends to disrupt how you follow along with a complex thread, forcing you to digest a new page of information and potentially lose track of what you were reading in the first place when all you really wanted to see was likely the bio of the person who was replying.’
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The feature is a good way to help users stay focused on one particular conversation and glean important information about who’s participating without having to jump around incessantly.
The micro-blogging site is also working on a feature that would trace the origins of long tweet-threads.