Twitter to update users 'while you were away'

SAN FRANCISCO, US: Twitter is updating its feeds to give users a recap of tweets missed while not connected to the messaging platform...

"A lot can happen while you're on the go. To fill in some of those gaps, we will surface a few of the best tweets you probably wouldn't have seen otherwise, determined by engagement and other factors," Twitter product manager Paul Rosania said in a blog post Wednesday.

"If you check in on Twitter now and then for a quick snapshot of what's happening, you'll see this recap more often; if you spend a lot of time on Twitter already, you'll see it less."

The move comes with Twitter seeking to boost engagement with users amid growth which has been slower than some analysts have expected. In October, Twitter said the number of monthly users grew 23 percent from a year earlier to 284 million.

A Pew Research Center report showed that among US users, Twitter is behind Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Instagram in the number of users.

Twitter announced separately Thursday it was partnering with Microsoft Bing to translate tweets in some 40 "language pairs."

"With tweet translation, you won't miss any of the action unfolding on Twitter," the company said on its blog.

"You can choose when you want to see a translation for a tweet, and you can also adjust your settings so the option to view tweet translations is disabled."

Source: AFP, via I-Net Bridge