Twitter's Promoted Moments likely a game changer

Twitter last week introduced a new feature “Moments” to enable users to access latest happenings instantly on the social networking site.

“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”, said Madhu Muthukumar, Product Manager at Twitter.

The Moments are assembled by Twitter’s curation team, and some are contributed by partners like Bleacher Report, Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Fox News, Getty Images, Mashable, MLB, NASA, New York Times, Vogue and the Washington Post. 

Moments appears to be Twitter’s attempt to boost the stagnating user growth. The announcement came following the appointment of Twitter’s interim chief Jack Dorsey as its permanent CEO and ad-revenue lead Adam Bain as COO.

The latest feature isn’t just limited to Twitter users, there is something for advertisers as well. AdWeek reports that five or so brands will start testing a new ad unit called ‘Promoted Moments’ in the coming days, and several more are in talks with Twitter to get on board.

In an email to AdWeek, Twitter said that Promoted Moments or ProMos will let "a brand to tell a complete story through this immersive Moments format."

"We'll test Promoted Moments with a prominent placement within the guide of the day's top moments, running for 24 hours—similar to how the Promoted Trend is placed within the Trending Topics list," a Twitter rep described. "We're just beginning to test this with brands—so we expect to learn a lot from these test and understand how consumers react. This means things may change. There are so many possibilities for brands here—but we're starting slowly to ensure we learn from what users like best in this environment."

Adotas explains that Promoted Moments would not be dropped into live-event feeds. Instead, Twitter will give brands their own Moments, meaning that advertisers are going to have to think outside the box, putting together Moments that use all the striking and interactive tools available to tell their story. This is expected to offer more brand penetration.

Matt Derella, Twitter VP of Sales, said, “What it’s actually going to be is a dedicated piece of real estate within the Moments guide where a brand can curate a series of different tweets or Vines to actually tell their story.”