Twitter Retires "Discover" Tab, Replaces It With "Tailored Trends"
Twitter today announced that it will now showcase trending topics under the search page on its mobile apps. Clicking the search bar will now bring you to "Tailored Trends" along with a short description of each trending topic. However, it also announced that it is retiring the #Discover tab, meaning you'll no longer be able to see activities based on the people and topics you follow on the social media site.
Discover was a tab in the Twitter bottom navigation bar. Now that tab is gone. The new Trends with descriptions will appear once you tap the search icon at the top of the screen. Tapping one of the shown trends will bring you the top tweets on the topic, related media, related tweets by people you follow, and then a wider sampling of posts in reference to the tapped topic.
"Starting today, we're making some updates to the trends experience on mobile to make them more informative and easier to find," said Twitter. "We know that trends aren't always self-explanatory, so now you'll see a description below each trend. Since trends tend to be abbreviations without context, like #NYFW, a description will make it clear that this trend is about New York Fashion Week. The new trends experience may also include how many Tweets have been sent and whether a topic is trending up or down. As part of this change, we're moving trends to the search page and retiring #discover and activity for all iOS and Android users."
Over the past months, Twitter has been working to make content easier to find in places like your home timeline. It has for one enhanced "recaps," which is the selection of tweets marked "While You Were Away" that pops up when you open the app, giving you a broad view at what has been trending on your network of friends and followers. It has also introduced "MagicRecs," which are instant, personalized recommendations of what to read and who to follow sent via direct message.
The new updates arrive in iOS and Android devices today but only in English and only in the US. As for rest, Twitter said: "We're currently experimenting with similar features on web and look forward to expanding this experience to more countries in the future."