Twitter announced on Wednesday that it is testing a new feature called Communities, a way to easily find and connect with people who want to talk about the same things you do.
The feature is similar to Facebook groups as it would give users a way to talk about specific topics with people who share the same interest.
In a blog post, Twitter said, “Some conversations aren’t for everyone, just the people who want to talk about the thing you want to talk about. When you join a community, you can Tweet directly to that group instead of to all your followers. Only members in the same Community are able to reply and join the conversation so it stays intimate and relevant”.
The first Twitter Communities being tested are focused on dogs, weather, sneakers, skincare, and astrology, the company said. Communities will have moderators who can invite other Twitter users into their groups.
Communities are publicly visible but people need to be invited by a moderator to join. The company said that community creation is also limited but in the coming months more people will be able to create communities.
In an effort to grow its user base, Twitter has rolled out a couple of new features this year including subscription-based “super follows”, fleets that have since been discontinued, live audio chat rooms “Spaces” amongst others.