Twitter announced a new feature geared toward fostering more intimate interactions between friends titled 'Twitter Circle.' This feature allows individuals to add others to their Circles and allows users in a Circle to choose to either send a public Tweet or to send a Tweet only to their Circle.
This feature functions similarly to Instagram's 'Close Friends' or Facebook's 'Groups' feature. At its core, Twitter Circle is intended to allow individuals to engage in more pointed conversations, as the application is typically perceived as one that is geared exclusively toward public engagement. This enables users to foster a sense of community on the application while learning more about one another without having to expose these sets of information to the public user base on the platform. Additionally, Twitter Circles is a far more convenient way of ensuring a private system than creating a secondary locked account for close friends only.
Private Social Media Features
Twitter Announced the 'Twitter Circle' Feature for Friendgroups
Trend Themes
1. Private Circle Features - The rise of personal and private circle features will prove to be a disruptive innovation opportunity for social media companies to increase engagement within a niche audience.
2. Intimate Friend Group Messaging - Intimate friend group messaging creates a space within social media for personalized and exclusive conversations, providing disruptive innovation opportunities for companies to build enhanced brand-consumer relationships.
3. Platform Privacy Controls - Enhanced privacy controls and options for users on social media platforms create disruptive innovation opportunities for companies to increase user trust and engagement by allowing private conversations to occur.
Industry Implications
1. Social Media - Private Circle Features and Intimate Friend Group Messaging will inevitably become a new norm within the social media space and provide opportunities for growth and differentiation amongst companies.
2. Messaging - Intimate Friend Group Messaging creates space in the messages industry for specialized and personalized conversation and provides opportunities to better serve niche audiences.
3. Technology - Platform Privacy Controls provide opportunities for innovative solutions, technology and features to solve the increasing concern for privacy across numerous social media.