You can “collaborate” on Instagram, but what about Twitter? The social network is continuing to work on a feature that would allow multiple users to co-author a tweet, which it refers to as “Collaborations.” The option has not yet been made publicly available and only works after one user accepts a request to collaborate from another. It also hints at a possible plan to give creators a way to partner with businesses on brand advertising deals — something that’s already common on rival social networks like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and others.
Twitter’s “Collaborations” feature was first discovered from the app’s code by the mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi, who, back in December 2021, shared references he found that indicated Twitter was working on a way for two people to co-author a single tweet. In this scenario, both Twitter handles and people’s names will appear at the top of the tweet above its content. Earlier this year, Paluzzi discovered a collaboration button had been added to the tweet composer’s screen, and it revealed how co-authors’ profile pictures would appear – one overlaid on top of the other – when their tweeted ‘Collab’ appeared in the Twitter Timeline .
Today Paluzzi has found more evidence again of the feature’s development when he posted a screenshot explaining how Twitter Collaborations would work.
Here, Twitter explains that users would first ask a person or brand to “co-own” a tweet with them and wait for them to accept the request. In other words, you can’t force someone into a collaboration — it’s not just a way to tag someone in a tweet, that is. When the other user accepts the request, both accounts appear as co-authors on the tweet, Twitter explains on this intro screen.
Paluzzi told TechCrunch that he hasn’t found anything in the code that would limit the feature’s availability to select users — like creators who use Twitter’s Super Follows, for example.
However, this addition of Collaboration is another indication that Twitter is thinking about how its platform can be used in different ways beyond being a virtual town square or a real-time news network.
Among the many new products Twitter has been testing in recent months is the idea of turning Twitter into a creative platform, where followers can optionally subscribe to favorite accounts in exchange for exclusive access to fan-only content such as photos, videos or other media or even private tweets. it “Super Follow” function., as it’s called, became available globally late last year and is now accessible to iOS and Android users during this early testing period. Suitability Requests state that the creator must be US-based with at least 10,000 followers in order to offer a Super Follow subscription to their fans.
Whether creators see Twitter as a viable platform to generate revenue from subscriptions remains to be seen. But Twitter has a number of brand advertisers using its platform, as well as high-profile users with large followings who can be seen as Twitter “influencers”. Potentially, it could combine these two sets with this new Collaboration feature.
Of course, a Collaborations feature can have a number of other use cases besides brand deals. It can be used to extract combined statements from organizations, businesses or people; to promote work with multiple authors or creators, such as podcasts, newsletters or news articles. And it could be used for fun by people who wanted to join for some other reason as well.
Twitter, however, is leaving us to speculate about its plans for Twitter collaborations for now.
Asked for comment, a Twitter spokesperson would only confirm that the feature was something Twitter was currently “exploring,” but declined to share more about the feature, its plans or an upcoming launch date.
