Photo Courtesy of Twitter
On November 12, Twitter announced the new custom timeline on Tweetdeck. This feature will allow users to organize tweets into groups that create a timeline based off of the topic. Twitter believes that this will help tweeters customize their experience on the site. The timelines can be shared on Twitter, blogs, and other platforms.
Topics for custom timelines can be based off of anything in a tweet: hashtags, phrases, and event-specific keywords. These curated streams of tweets can help users share information with others as more tweets are added. Tweeters can add tweets to their timeline manually or by using an API to automatically select them.
When a user is interested in a particular topic that is taking off on Twitter, he can preserve the tweets most important to him. Each timeline can be seen by the public on its own unique page and is updated in real time.
Finding a specific stream of data on Twitter can be difficult, but this feature can help users limit the information they want to see. Using these timelines will allow for a less muddled and confusing search. It gives the user greater control on how their tweets are delivered to them and visitors on their profiles or websites.
Developers will also be able to allow for this in their products through an API. This allows publishers to filter through tweets and generate a timeline with their own guidelines.
Photo Courtesy of Media Bistro
Users have already started using this feature to showcase television shows, music artists, and more. Twitter “#music” has generated custom timelines to display tweets from and about artists and their songs. Carson Daly has made a timeline to go along with The Voice, which he hosts.
These timelines can be created directly from TweetDeck, which allows you to drag and drop tweets and then share the direct links or embed it on a website. Others can easily find custom timelines by clicking on “Custom Timeline” under a user’s profile on TweetDeck and follow it live by adding the column.
Twitter’s new timeline feature can be used for getting focused information to the public and allow for people to track a real-time event. It makes for an interactive and personalized feature that can only enhance a user’s experience.