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Twitter, the popular micro-blogging site made popular by Ashton Kutcher, will be unveiling a slew of new features when its highly-anticipated "Version 2.0" debuts next month. Here's a rundown:
Character Limit
The character limit for a "tweet" (Twitter parlance for a post) has been increased to 1040. "People have a lot more to say now than they did in 2006," said Twitter spokesman Erich McDurgun. "And in this economy, people could use a little more of a good thing, am I right?"
Categories
Twitter will be adding category tabs to its bare-bones interface in hopes of facilitating tweet scanning and increasing general usability. "With users following hundreds, thousands and in some cases, millions of other Twitter users, we thought adding filtered categories would increase the user experience," said McDurgun. "We've been compiling data for the past three years and we've found most of the tweets fall in a few distinct groups. Tweets will now automatically funnel into the new categories using complex algorithms and keyword analysis. Users can simply click on the categories they wish to read and ignore others."
The new top-level categories are:
- Lunch
- Gym
- Self-Promotion
- Follow Me
- Celebrity Ramblings
- Whining
- All
Based on Twitter data, "Lunch" is the most most tweeted about subject by far, with "I'm thinking about a sandwich" as the most popular tweet ever.
"If Twitter serves one purpose and one purpose only, it allows friends to know what other friends are thinking about eating in real-time," said McDurgun. "That's what web 2.0 social networking is all about, my friend. You can also follow up after the meal with another tweet and let the public know how it all went down. Add a TwitPic of the meal and you've painted a nice picture for all to enjoy!"
McDurgun went on to break down a couple other categories in more detail:
GYM - "What fun is working out if you can't tell everyone about it. Twitter is the perfect vehicle to remind people how much time you spend working out or thinking about working out."
Self-Promotion - "Basically, it's what we're all about... "boasting" if you will, whether directly or indirectly.
Follow Me: "This category will contain tweets from new followers who follow you only because they are in the business of racking up followers and not actually caring what you tweet about. Remember, they are banking on a reciprocal follow. If you decline to reciprocate in a timely manner, expect an 'unfollow' quickly."
"I think Celebrity Ramblings and Whining are fairly self explanatory. All allows you to see all unfiltered tweets."
TwitPic Integration
Thanks to Version 2.0, you no longer have to open a new app to post or view a photo. The photo is displayed right in your tweet. "Just click on the photo and a new interface will pop up where your followers can comment and you can touch up the photo using a the new Photoshop Twixelator Lite Edition."
Expanded Sharing
The current Twitter interface has only two options for a tweet: "Favorite" or "Reply." Twitter 2.o has added the popular "Retweet" as an option, as well as "File," "Save to Floppy Disk" and "Print." The user will also have the ability to share the tweet with numerous, popular social media sites with a simple click of the button.
Products Brand Products
Twitter is taking a page from some popular third-party applications and will now offer T-shirts and messenger bags emblazoned with any Tweet you wish. (Legal: Twitter owns all tweet content as stated in the Twerms of Use). "Mugs, baseball caps and duvets will be added in the near future."
Future
"Everyone is saying Facebook is trying to be like us, which is pretty much true, but we also have to keep up with them and other social networking apps and their popular offerings, " said McDurgan. "We have a lot of great new stuff in the pipeline... and I can't go into it much now, but let's just say were thinking about "Quizzes!"
