Twitter says it is testing Communities, invite-only topic-based public feeds curated by moderators, initially limited to a few topics, such as dogs and skincare

Twitter is a useful place for following breaking news and keeping up with what the people you're already interested in are doing … Source: Twitter .

TechCrunch 2021-09-09 Taylor Hatmaker

Context & Ripple Effects

Twitter had already moved beyond a single universal timeline with followable Topics spanning hundreds of subjects, using Twitter-led curation to place subject matter into users’ timelines. Communities shifts the unit of organization from an interest feed to a moderator-curated group.

The test also follows Twitter’s work on sharing tweets with a trusted group, indicating a broader effort to give participation and audience boundaries more structure than the main public feed.

First-order effects

Initial moderators in dog and skincare Communities gain control over what appears in their public topic feeds, while participation is limited to invited members during the test.
Twitter can evaluate whether moderator-led feeds create more focused conversations than its existing Topics product without opening the feature platform-wide.

Second-order effects

Twitter’s Topics model must coexist with Communities: the former distributes Twitter-curated subjects into timelines, while the latter relies on moderators to shape a dedicated feed.
Users and creators seeking topic-specific audiences gain a new route to visibility, but access depends on Community invitations rather than simply following an interest.

Third-order effects

If Twitter expands the test, its product structure would increasingly combine a broad public timeline with bounded social spaces, placing more of the platform’s content organization in the hands of community moderators.
That shift makes moderation design a product differentiator: Twitter would be testing whether narrower, managed discussion spaces can complement algorithmically curated interest feeds.

The trend: Twitter is segmenting its public conversation into interest-based and permissioned spaces alongside its main timeline.

Discussion

Twitter David Regan on x
Communities: Talk about your thing with people who get you
@joincommunities @joincommunities on x
imagine an alternate timeline where everyone just gets you say hi to Communities—the place to connect with people who Tweet like you. testing now on iOS and web, Android soon! https://twitter.com/...
@kayvz Kayvon Beykpour on x
today we're rolling out our first public testing of Communities, which gives people a place to have more focused conversations with people who share the same interests. Communities introduces a two very key mechanics that I think are worth touching on: https://twitter.com/...
@communities @communities on x
Oh hey, @TwitterSupport gave us back our account! Thanks!
@zoescaman Zoe Scaman on x
Twitter getting into the communities space is smart, as we continue to seek out interest-based networks and niches This will also tick a big box for live events as rising crypto communities, sports fans & more look to rally around specific moments https://www.theverge.com/...
@beijingdou Josh Ong on x
Pleased to announce that @farokh @not_katarina @hunterorrell and I will be moderating an NFT Community on Twitter's new @JoinCommunities test feature. Chatting now in Spaces if you want to learn more. https://twitter.com/...
@hypervisible Hypervisible Dot Pdf on x
It seems like something very similar to this turned out very poorly for Facebook (and the world). https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@aelfred_d @aelfred_d on x
Sounds great, everyone knows there's never any tension in small communities https://twitter.com/...
@jowyang Jeremiah Owyang on x
I think this will be interesting, if not fun. Twitter Communities. PS: There will be a mad rush for people to create communities and get people to join, for the klout. https://techcrunch.com/...
@switch1e_swoof @switch1e_swoof on x
any black women photographers into lanky white men hmu 🙏 https://twitter.com/...
@ericjhonsa Eric Jhonsa on x
Something like this really feels overdue. One of the biggest issues with $TWTR has been that ordinary users often feel no one is paying attention to their tweets and become discouraged. Groups revolving around common interests could help change that. https://www.theverge.com/... …
@kayvz Kayvon Beykpour on x
1) Tweets you post in Communities are “narrow-casted” to only the people in that Community. They're still public Tweets, but they aren't amplified to all of your followers and they don't show up on your Profile. We think this can help lower the pressure of talking on Twitter.
@rrhoover Ryan Hoover on x
I'm curious to see how this is adopted. What community would you join? https://twitter.com/...
@tjack Todd Jackson on x
This is a cool product direction for Twitter. Was super interested in starting a project like this when I was there in 2014, thrilled to see them doing it. I think narrow-casting could inspire people to tweet about tons of stuff beyond just what they're “known for” on Twitter. ht…
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
“@TwitterCommunities” won't work because it's too long (max length is 15 characters) and @Community belongs to a startup (actively operating), so Twitter can't practically just take it over 🤔
@itstarekali Tarek Ali on x
I'm trying to see if this is another way to say “close friends” 🤨 if so then it's lit https://twitter.com/...
@wongmjane Jane Manchun Wong on x
The “@communities” username has been handed back to User:329803513 it seems, previously belonged to User:1425866639023607810, which has now become @communities__1 I wonder what other usernames will Twitter pick if they wanna have a social account for the Communities feature 🤔 htt…
@johnbattelle John Battelle on x
Twitter launches Communities....(checks date)....15 years in. Oh, and... well, 35 years after The WELL proved the value of real communities. https://blog.twitter.com/...
@styx_icks Styx on x
How long before thjs breeds pedo communities https://twitter.com/...
@kayvz Kayvon Beykpour on x
2) Communities have moderators, and these mods determine what the rules and social norms are within that Community. They'll be able to enforce these rules/norms on their own (hiding tweets, kicking people out, etc).
@neerajka Neeraj K. Agrawal on x
god i hope they lump all of crypto into one community https://twitter.com/...
@digested_sand @digested_sand on x
They really are just trying to turn this site into Reddit 2 lmao https://twitter.com/...
@lanceulanoff Lance Ulanoff on x
Basically, Twitter is launching discussion groups. It's somewhat akin to Facebook groups, except without all the High School Alumni Groups https://twitter.com/...
@willoremus Will Oremus on x
Twitter's newest product, “Communities,” seems like its answer to subreddits/Facebook Groups/discord servers. Smart idea IMO to experiment with devolving some moderation power to users and restoring some of the context that the main Twitter feed collapses. https://twitter.com/...
@joincommunities @joincommunities on x
Video summary: upbeat music plays as Tweets searching for communities enter the screen. A Tweet is typed, the author selects a new menu & sends to a specific Community—Black Women Photographers. Icons of Black women, cameras & film symbolizing the conversation fill the screen.
@rprose Scott Rose on x
nothing bad will happen https://blog.twitter.com/...
@mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x
@JoinCommunities Journalists embedding tweets in articles... Proceed with caution. That embed tweet decision just got more complicated.
@mattnavarra Matt Navarra on x
This has the potential to be a big hit for twitter But it will change the fundamental dynamics of how twitter works Tweets are no longer just public or private or deleted. You have super follower only tweets (subscription), community only tweets, and maybe more to come. 1/2 https…
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
Dogs don't need skincare. God, who's running things over at Twitter today? https://twitter.com/...
@thesmarmybum Justin Taylor on x
Excited to share Twitter Communities! A new way to join, start, and find the discussions around the communities you care about. Today we launch in testing with a few Communities that will continue to grow over time https://twitter.com/...
@scottmonty Scott Monty on x
Twitter is going head-to-head with Facebook Groups with its new invitation-only Communities. Consider how this might integrate with @TwitterSpaces and there's a lot of potential here. https://www.theverge.com/... via @Verge

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