Twitter Rolls Out A News Tab Experiment For App Users

Many US Twitter users will see new options within their Twitter app. According to BuzzFeed, a “News” tab is being tested to help Twitter’s push in the news distribution space. The news tab will display on the bottom of the screen for select Android and iOS app users.

When selected, a list of top headlines will be displayed in a familiar Twitter format. Clicking the headline will bring up a card-like format with the full title, description and the top Tweets surrounding the story. Users also can browse all headlines to see the number of top Tweets about a given story.

According to a month-old report from Pew Internet, Twitter is still lagging behind Facebook when it comes to news consumption. Facebook serves news to 41% of US adults, while only 10% of US adults consume news on Twitter. The biggest factor affecting Twitter’s low news consumption numbers, however, is its low number of users. Only 17% of adults use Twitter, compared to a whopping 66% of adults who are on Facebook. While this tab may help increase numbers, the bigger issue may in fact be the Twitter user growth problem that has been hanging over the company.

For more information, see BuzzFeed. Image courtesy of BuzzFeed.