Twitter wants to become your new go-to news app

Twitter Moments brings hand-picked articles with GIFs, Vines and full-bleed images to the iOS app

Twitter wants to become your new go-to news app

 

Moments will showcase the top stories on the social networking website – even if you don't follow the users who posted the tweet.

The new Twitter feature has rolled out worldwide and can be found under the new lightning bolt icon within the official smartphone app or website.

Twitter will update the Moments throughout the day. The Moments are a mix of news and fluffy trending topics. 

 

For example, two Moments on Tuesday included tweets about the South Carolina floods breaking dams and a pygmy hedgehog called Marutaro.

When you tap on a chosen Moment, you will be taken to an introduction to the article with a title and description.

Swiping will dive into the article, which boasts immersive full-bleed images and auto-playing videos, Vines, and GIFs.

Twitter has added a progress bar at the bottom to indicate how much is left to read in each Moment story.

 

Twitter has added a progress bar at the bottom on the Moment story

Twitter, which limits posts to 140 characters, has been trying to find a way to broaden its appeal

 

A number of approved curators will also work with Twitter to pick the stories which populate the Moments tab, including Buzzfeed, Entertainment Weekly, Fox News, Getty Images, Mashable, NASA, New York Times, Vogue and the Washington Post. 

This list of approved contributors will expand in the future, the US technology company has confirmed.

Twitter, which limits posts to 140 characters, has been trying to find a way to make the site easier to navigate and broaden its appeal beyond media junkies, athletes, celebrities and politicians. 

The short messaging service has amassed more than 300 million users but its growth has been slowing.

Meanwhile, Facebook has 1.5 billion people on its online social network and even its photo-sharing application, Instagram, has surpassed Twitter in size.

The news comes a day after Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey returned officially to the San Francisco company as CEO.