Twitter is making it easier to keep track of conversations and direct messages on its mobile Android and iOS apps, adding Direct Reply Counts and organized conversations.
Simply put, Twitter's mobile apps now employ the same ranked conversation system as the web version of the platform.
Conversation Ranking
Twitter added a major improvement to its web platform back in June 2015, when it first introduced ranked conversations based on a system that highlighted tweet replies and organized them in sub-conversations based on a number of pointers. For instance, a reply from the original tweet author will be ranked higher, as will a reply from a person you're following. Twitter takes these cues as indications that those replies are more relevant and it puts them on top rather than showing all replies in chronological order.
A conversation on Twitter starts with just one reply to a tweet, but it can easily turn into a complex discussion that becomes harder to follow. Twitter wants to make it easier to keep track of replies, especially the ones that are most relevant.
"It's easy to follow and join conversations: We show you the most interesting content in the conversations first, and it's easy to follow along with what people are saying," says Twitter.
With organized conversations, Twitter shows a summary of the replies based on what is relevant for each user. This means that one person may not see the same conversation thread with replies in the same order as for another person. However, if you' rather not have ranked conversations, you can still opt for the old tweet reply system that displays all replies in chronological order.
Direct Reply Count
Twitter is also adding a Direct Reply count so you can easily see the number of replies in a conversation at a glance.
"Just as you can see the total number of likes and Retweets for any Tweet, you can also see how many people are participating in the conversation by the reply count," Twitter explains.
The reply count number will appear next to the reply icon, showing the total number of replies in the entire conversation started from the original tweet.
The changes mark just the latest efforts Twitter has made to improve its service. The company also added free NFL game streaming recently, as well as stickers, QR code reading, a quality filter to block unwanted content, and more.
It remains to be seen whether these efforts will help Twitter get more users and stay competitive, but the latest changes should nonetheless make things easier for mobile users.
