The Guardian, New York Times and Wall Street Journal are taking part in a trial with Twitter to display links to their articles in a new, more visually appealing way.
The three publishers were chosen because they have highly engaged and trusted audiences on the social media platform, according to Twitter, and news was chosen as it is such a popular subject among its users.
Currently hyperlinks to articles on Twitter show as Twitter Cards, which show a headline, description and thumbnail.
The new customisable Tiles have been designed to help websites stand out from the crowd, tell better stories, and drive more engagement. They could use text, a larger image and a call-to-action button – for example, below, the Tile says “Read on The Guardian” in a bold bar.
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The format will be automatically rendered when a tweet links to the domain of a website partnered with Twitter – currently just three publishers.
New Twitter tile for The Guardian
A Twitter spokesperson said: “We’re testing Tweet Tiles, a new, customisable way to expand the creative surface area of a tweet, starting with a few select news partners.
“We’re excited to learn from this test as we explore opportunities for developers and partners to make Twitter more delightful for everyone.”
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The trial Tiles can be seen by some, but not all, users in web browsers and on the iOS Twitter app.
A Guardian News and Media spokesperson said of the trial: “The Guardian is currently taking part in a Tweet Tiles pilot visible to some Twitter users on iOS and web. This pilot allows us to experiment natively with new and creative ways of sharing Guardian articles and explore how we engage people on the platform through different visual, customisable posts.
“The Guardian has always thought about the way its journalism is presented in different formats, especially on social media; from bold distinctly Guardian designs on Instagram to engaging visuals promoting our original series on Snapchat and popular videos and explainers on Youtube and Tiktok.”
Today we’re beginning to test Tweet Tiles with @nytimes, @wsj and @guardian. Tweet Tiles will let developers extend the Tweet experience and will pave future innovation for our @TwitterDev developer community? https://t.co/LDyExFq4b1 pic.twitter.com/mKeU87jNIv
— Amir Shevat (@ashevat) August 25, 2022
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Picture: Twitter screenshot
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