July 7 — Twitter is testing out a new ‘Co-Tweet’ feature that allows users to co-author tweets, according to the company. Twitter intends to test the feature for a limited length of time to assess how users utilize the feature, and whether or not it increases collaboration and productive online conversations.

Twitter’s new feature

In addition to helping individual influencers gain more traction, the tool can potentially help brands reach new audiences and strengthen collaboration with industry partners and peers.

Where the feature appears

Those who newly have access to the Co-Tweets feature are seeing it within the ‘tweet composer’ via a pop-up that asks if they would like to “tweet together with Co-Tweet.” With the feature, users can invite another Twitter account owner to share ownership over a post. If another account owner accepts, Co-Tweet will highlight both accounts as authors.

Users can send Co-Tweet requests to followers or to anyone with a public account. The request recipient will always retain the option to accept or decline. Only one co-author per Co-Tweet.

More feature information

Twitter states that if a user receives and accepts a Co-Tweet invitation, but then later wishes to revoke the decision, it’s possible to pull a user’s account off of a Co-Tweet. In such cases, the Co-Tweet defaults to a regular tweet by the original author.

Twitter’s experiment

Twitter intends to evaluate how people use this feature. Upon assessment, the company will likely tweak and refine the settings, options, and other micro-elements that provide a positive user experience. The company may also remove the feature at the end of this experiment, hiding any Co-Tweets created through it.

Further thoughts

For brands, the Co-Tweet feature could have a number of different potential applications. Brands could team up to create and advertise deals, promote social statements, highlight partnerships, or reach more followers with newsletter or article content.

Curious? Learn more here. Lastly, to receive more cutting-edge cyber security news, best practices and analyses, please sign up for the CyberTalk.org newsletter.