Twitter Trends 2016: 8 Changes to Expect from Twitter

This is the first part in a series looking ahead at what 2016 will hold for social media. We’ll be talking about the trends around each major social network, starting with our Twitter predictions.

After three months without a leader, Twitter recently brought back founder Jack Dorsey as full-time CEO. He’s been making loud noises about shaking things up at the rapid-fire social network in response to slow user growth.

Talking recently about the introduction of Moments, Dorsey said it was one piece of the puzzle that will make all of Twitter better, and that “there will be many more pieces to come over the next year”.

CFO Anthony Noto has previously admitted that Twitter users are tech enthusiasts and early adopters, not the mass market that Twitter needs to start breaking into.

He has described the problem honestly, stating “Nonusers can continue to ask: ‘Why should I use Twitter?’”, and if they go to the platform to discover the answer themselves, it remains “too difficult to use”.

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8 Twitter predictions for 2016

1 – Appealing to the mainstream

 

Twitter has recently introduced Likes and Moments.

Likes have been part of the social landscape since Facebook introduced the omnipresent thumb in 2009, so the change appears designed to adopt a more mainstream language.

Moments makes it easier to find the stories that matter. One of Twitter’s main selling points is the conversation happening around breaking news as the events happen, but for some the constant stream of information means they miss conversations they care about.

2016 will likely see more product updates that attempt to appeal to the mainstream audience.

There is value in the vast amount of content Twitter has, the challenge is to get the right content in front of the right people at the right time.

If they can find a way of doing this, the mainstream might discover why the hardcore are in love with it.

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2 – Accessibility improvements

 

The changes outlined above relate to another problem Twitter faces; the difficulty new users face when signing up.

Jack Dorsey recently asked developers for their suggestions on improving Twitter. One of the most requested changes was accessibility improvements across the product.

Having announced a revamped Twitter for Mac app, expect Twitter to make improvements to its web client and mobile app in 2016.

Finding what matters to users should be easier. One possibility is to migrate some features from its own client Tweetdeck to assist users in create a more flexible, personalized experience.

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3 – A change to the algorithm

 

Changing the interface is one option, changing the algorithm is another.

The latter solution would surely be more desirable in the long-term for Twitter. It would allow them to start to curate user timelines, in the way Facebook has done for some time.

Curating a timeline would allow Twitter to tailor the experience of a new user, while allowing huge potential for monetization. It could mean gradually introducing more branded content into a user’s timeline, and later charging advertisers for the privilege.

Twitter would have to tread a careful balance if it chose this route.

The furore this would create would presumably be much bigger on Twitter, where the unedited stream of content is seen as integral to the platform.

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4 – Increasing in-app retention

 

A common trend among social media sites is improving functionality to keep users in-app.

Facebook introduced its own video hosting to stem the flow of users heading off to YouTube, and has recently introduced Instant Articles to encourage content to be posted directly on the site.

2016 should see long form content available in Twitter in some capacity. In May it was reported that Twitter had been in talks to buy Flipboard, the social magazine, for $1 billion.

Fortune has reported that Twitter is working on other ways to help publishers and media outlets publish content directly to Twitter. Re/code has gone further to suggest Twitter and Google are teaming up to provide an open source platform.

This will affect social referral traffic to brand websites, although this doesn’t mean the content will be read less. The quicker access to content may even lead to a rise in views and engagement.