New Twitter experiment DMs you breaking news

This is interesting. Twitter appears to have rolled out an experimental account that sends breaking news via direct message.

The account has the handle @eventparrot, as well as the following bio:

This is a Twitter experiment. Follow me to receive direct messages that help you keep up with what’s happening in the world.

As The Next Web notes, it’s unclear at this stage whether the experiment actually comes from Twitter, although the fact that it’s followed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey as well as number of staffers at the social network suggests it may be.

If the experiment is actually built by Twitter, as it appears to have been, then it could be a useful way for the social network to push content from its media partners and up engagement as it moves toward its IPO. News is also a fairly innocuous way to see if it can use direct messages to push recommendations to its users.

Given the increasing amount of time people spend tweeting about live TV, one potential use we can see for the account would be for TV stations or digital providers like Netflix and Hulu DM people when a new episode of a show they’ve been tweeting about is about to air or available for download.