Twitter’s new Moments feature lets you catch up on developing stories

Twitter on Tuesday announced the launch of Moments, a new feature which in its words allows you to see “the best of what’s happening on Twitter in an instant”.

The new feature appears to be an acknowledgement by the social media network that, try as they might, most of its users can’t keep up with the sheer volume of information Twitter throws at them on a daily basis.

According to Twitter, Moments helps you find the best of Twitter as easily as tapping an icon — regardless of who you follow.

Read more: Here’s Jack Dorsey’s manifesto for running Twitter and Square

Tapping on the new lightning bolt tab on your phone, it says, opens a list of Moments that matter now. As new stories emerge throughout the day, it will continue to update this list. You can also swipe through to topics including “Entertainment” and “Sports” to find more stories from the past few days.

Here’s how you can engage with a Moment.

• When you click into a Moment, you’re taken to an introduction with a title and description.
• Start swiping to dive right into the story, with immersive full-bleed images and autoplaying videos, Vines, and GIFs.
• A single tap gives you a fuller view of the Tweet, which you can favorite, Retweet, and more. A double tap lets you instantly favorite the Tweet.
• The progress bar at the bottom indicates how much more each Moment has to offer.
• Swiping up or down dismisses the Moment and takes you back to the guide.
• At the end of a Moment, click the share button to Tweet your thoughts, and send it out to your followers.

Following a Moment

According to Twitter, Moments are updated as new information or great Tweets become available.

Read more: Twitter officially removes 140 character limit from DMs

“You’ll know a story has been updated since your last view when you see a blue dot in the upper righthand corner of the image associated with the Moment,” writes Madhu Muthukumar, Product Manager, Moments in an official blog post announcing the new feature. “For stories that update very frequently — like live sporting events or awards shows where it’s critical to know what’s happening minute by minute — you’ll see an option to follow the Moment, which blends the Tweets directly into your timeline. So you can keep track of the latest updates in real time without having to tap back and forth between tabs. When that story ends, so do the Tweets, leaving your timeline just as it was before”.

Moments will initially roll out to US users across Android, iPhone, and the desktop web with Twitter saying that it’ll be available outside the US in the coming weeks. It also says that people outside of the US will be able to engage with Moments if they discover a link to a Moment in a Tweet or DM, or embedded elsewhere.