Want full access to a Twitter feature that’s been available to only a select few since making its debut?
Now’s your chance – because Twitter Moments is finally available to any and all users!
For almost a year after launching in 2015, only Twitter employees and an exclusive list of publishing partners were able to create Moments. Now, though, anyone can do it – including you!
How does creating a Twitter Moment work? Why is it such a big deal that you can do it now? And what are Twitter’s tips for creating the most eye-catching, share-worthy Moments you possibly can?
Let’s take a closer look!
What ARE Twitter Moments, exactly?
Need a quick refresher on Twitter Moments?
(Maybe got a question or two you’ve always been afraid to ask?)
Not to worry – here’s a quick recap of what exactly this feature IS.
In 2015, Twitter launched Moments, which you can access from the main navigation on both desktop and mobile. Moments is a tool that allows you to curate slideshows (called – you guessed it – “Moments”) using tweets from different users, which anyone viewing that Moment can quickly and easily scroll through.
Twitter makes these slideshows available in the Moments tab, categorized by topic so that it’s easy to find personally-curated slideshows related to the news of the day that interests you the most:
Until recently, Twitter Moments was like an all-you-can-eat buffet – consume as much as you want, but stay the heck out of the kitchen. Users could view the Moments created by Twitter’s in-house team and select partner publishers, but they couldn’t create them.
Now, though, the floodgates are open – and you can finally get in on the action!
Creating your own Twitter Moments
Twitter has opened access to Moments with a walkthrough tool that makes it easy to add everything you need, from an attention-grabbing title and cover photo to the actual tweets themselves.
For everyone who wants to make a Moment – starting today you can! Creators everywhere can now tell stories with Tweets. pic.twitter.com/ZJtNBoTPWf
— Twitter (@twitter) September 28, 2016
Along with those instructions, they’ve also given a few suggestions that will help your Twitter Moments stand out:
- Write a short headline that’ll spark some curiosity
Just like you would with a blog post, write out a few different headline options for each Twitter Moment. Whether it asks a question, teases a story, or promises new and useful information for a reader, an irresistible headline is just as important as the tweets you’ve chosen for your Moment!
Don’t worry about giving away the whole story in your headline, though, because there’s another important thing for you to write just underneath.
- Give people a taste of what to expect by summing up the contents of your Moment in the description
The cover photo of your Moment gives you room for not only a headline, but a description of the story your Moment is going to tell.
In other types of writing, giving away too many details early on can be counterproductive – or at least merit the courtesy of a decent spoiler warning.
In a Twitter Moment, though, your description should give a clear picture of what to expect. Think of the description as a summary, whereas the tweets in the Moment itself give a more detailed explanation with links, reactions, and insights from different sources.
There’s one more thing to think about when you’re perfecting your Twitter Moment’s cover:
- Choose an eye-catching cover photo
Twitter describes the cover photo of a Moment like the cover of a book – and while you’re technically not supposed to judge a book by its cover, you know everyone does it anyway.
(Which is why all of our books have fire-breathing dragons on the front.)
Twitter Moments allows you to either choose an image from one of the tweets in your Moment or to upload one of your own, and you can even use gifs – so find something that’ll represent the tone and message of your Moment!
Once you have the perfect cover, though, there’s the actual content of your Twitter Moment to think about – and Twitter has a few tips there, too.
- Keep it short and sweet with plenty of variety
Twitter Moments are meant to be consumed pretty quickly – a few swipes of the thumb, and you’re done – so try to keep the number of tweets in yours to around ten.
In some cases, it may make sense for all of the tweets in a Moment to be from the same person – if you’re creating a Moment to link together the updates in a single user’s tweetstorm, for example, or if you want to collect a single user’s best tweets on a single topic.
Other times, though, Twitter recommends including different voices within a single Moment, so it that it represents a variety of perspectives.
Because Moments supports multimedia like images, gifs, videos, and Vines, incorporate different types of tweets throughout a single Moment, too, to better engage your readers.
Tweets like these make it easier to keep your readers’ attention until the end of your Moment – and since tweets with gifs can get as much as 6x the engagement of tweets with text alone, they can also make your Moments all the more interactive.
What kinds of Moments are you making?
So there you have it – Twitter has finally given you the power to make your very own Moments!
But what kind of Moments will you make?
Regular roundups of the best tweets from leaders in your industry?
Insightful reactions to the latest news?
Links to the cutest animal videos you’ve seen all week?
If you’ve published any Moments of your own, share a link in the comments below!
The post You Can Finally Make Your Own Twitter Moments – Here’s How appeared first on MeetEdgar Blog.