Twitter has announced a new feature called Custom Timelines, which allow users to curate lists of individual tweets around specific subjects. This move is a clear ploy to move users away from Storify, a third-party Twitter client that allow users to save and organize tweets.
At the moment, Twitter's Custom Timeline feature is available only via its client, Tweetdeck. The service offer users a similar experience to Storify, so folks willing to switch should feel right at home.
Twitter in a blog post highlighted what users can do with Custom Timelines:
"Share the best Tweets about a topic you care about, or an event -- planned or unplanned -- that's happening right now. Whether you want to collect the best Tweets about a TV show or help people find the latest information about fast-moving real-time situations, custom timelines let you give everyone a place to follow along."
The new feature has already been used to compliment the live component of the U.S. talent show, The Voice. So far, it seems as if it's turning out to be another Twitter success, but not on the same scale as Vine.
Furthermore, news organizations and political groups have already been using Custom Timelines for Q&A sessions between readers and journalists alike.
"You name it, and choose the Tweets you want to add to it, either by hand or programmatically using the API (more on that below). This means that when the conversation around an event or topic takes off on Twitter, you have the opportunity to create a timeline that surfaces what you believe to be the most noteworthy, relevant Tweets." according to the Twitter blog.
Technology analyst at The Economist intelligence unit, Jason Summers, stressed that the Custom Timelines launch is influenced heavily by Twitter's IPO when the microblogging social network entered the stock market, reports the Guardian.
"Twitter's latest announcement on custom timelines shows the amount of behind the scenes planning that went into its IPO," he said. "Investors were essentially betting on future innovation from the micro-blogger and we can expect the company to release more new initiatives over the coming weeks to build on the strong opening."
In his response to Twitter moving into Storify's territory, co-founder Xavier Damman claims that it only made Storify stronger.
