Twitter is testing a new Communities feature for connecting people with shared interests.
The social media giant announced this week it is planning on launching a new feature called Communities that will allow users to talk about specific topics with others who share the same interest.
People who join a community on Twitter will be able to send tweets specifically to others in that group instead of to all of their followers, and the only people who can reply to community tweets will be other members of those communities.
Twitter is hoping the feature will emulate the success of Facebook Groups, as well as taking tips from Discord’s server features and Reddit’s subreddits.
However, all tweets within a community will be visible to the public, meaning that users outside of a community can still read, quote tweet, and report tweets within a community – even though they can’t directly reply.
The first Twitter Communities at launch are focused on dogs, weather, sneakers, skin care and astrology.
Communities will have moderators who can invite other Twitter users into their groups, and the creation of new communities will be limited at first.
However, Twitter has said it will allow more people to create communities in the coming months.
Twitter first teased the Communities feature in February during the company’s annual Analyst Day.
