Twitter has announced its new weekly email digest, which looks a lot like the Discover tab in the new versions of Twitter mobile and web. The digest is using the technology that Twitter acquired when it grabbed social-feed summary tool Summify back in January.
We first reported a redesigned email being sent out to some users late last month that had the feel of a Summify report. Now it appears that the look has been made official.
The email will feature a list of stories shared on Twitter, along with a sampling of the people that shared those stories. This could help to sway users into clicking on topics that it sees have been shared by people that they know.
You can tweet the story directly out from the email and see related tweets from the people in their Twitter feed in the section below.
As a bonus discovery feature, the digest will also feature the ‘most engaging tweets seen by the people you follow’. Basically, these are popular tweets from the feeds of people that you follow. You may not follow those people, but your friends do, so Twitter is telling you to check them out. This could help to spread the adoption of popular accounts, or those who have had a tweet gained unexpected popularity.
This feature could help to push new users into following more people on the service. When you sign up for a new account, a lot of effort goes into getting you to follow at least 5 people, if not more. Twitter recognizes that the value that people get out of the service is only as good as the content of their feed. This section of the digest is an effort to help people to fill those feeds up.
The new email will be rolling out to users over the next few weeks. If you wish to opt out, you’ll have to visit your Notification Settings on Twitter to set your preferences for the new digest. The new feature isn’t covered by the standard ‘no emails please’ check box.
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