Twitter takes on breaking news with ‘Moments’

Twitter has launched a new feature dubbed Moments, offering the best tweets in a bid to take its social network further into the news arena.

Initially dubbed Project Lightning, the new Moments feature will be added to its mobile apps and desktop site.

Moments are mini-articles that can contain images, tweets, videos and Vines (short, seven second video loops).

The new button in the middle of the app marked by a lightning bolt brings users a curated, magazine-style view filled with comments, images and videos pulled from users on the ground and news organisations’ Twitter feeds.

The Moments tab shows stories curated by a small editorial team based at Twitter in New York. The tab is divided into sections including “today” and news, sports and entertainment.

It forms part of Twitter’s attempts to make its service more appealing for novice users or those that have used Twitter and then left, feeling a lack of engagement.

Inititally launching in the US, the ‘Moments’ will be curated by Twitter employees in the US, along with selected media partners.

They’ll be focused around events, with Twitter partnering with Major League Baseball to cover the upcoming playoffs.

“Moments helps you find the best of Twitter as easily as tapping an icon – regardless of who you follow. Just visit the new tab called Moments, where you will discover stories unfolding on Twitter,” Twitter said in a blog post.

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