Cashing in on people’s fear of missing out, Twitter is rolling out a personalized push notifications service that will recommend accounts and tweets you should follow. The feature will help users stay up-to-date with the latest conversations or topics trending on the platform.
Android and iPhone users will be able to turn recommendations on and off from the Twitter app as they choose, with Twitter’s algorithm determining the most relevant accounts for them to follow. The feature builds on an existing experimental Twitter account @MagicRecs, which sent followers personalized recommendations on who they should follow through direct messages. Journalists were especially impressed with the service and have welcomed its full integration into the Twitter app.
Although Twitter says it won’t send push notifications from brands or other ads (and that would be against Apple’s iPhone regulations too) it’s not hard to imagine brands figuring a way to game this system. It’s definitely in their interest to somehow get users interested enough in their Twitter activity so that they become recommended accounts.
