Twitter is testing Reddit-like Communities feature for discussion groups

Twitter has begun testing its Communities feature. Similar to subreddits and Facebook Groups, this feature allows users to join groups where they can tweet about specific interests and topics.

Twitter users can be invited to a number of communities starting this week, sign up the company a blog post. Some of the early communities focused on topics like astrology, sneakers, dogs, and skincare. Communities are run by users and each has their own moderators who set the rules for a group. Twitter says it is working on new ways and reporting options to identify ‘potentially problematic’ communities.

All Twitter communities and their tweets will be publicly visible, although not everyone can directly participate in discussions and conversations within a community. To join such a group, users must first be invited by an existing member. In time, the platform will have ‘other ways to discover and join communities’. Users can through a support page indicate that they want to start a community.

Twitter already presented its ideas about communities to investors in February, The Verge also writes. The company said at the time that the purpose of the feature is to make it easier for people to connect with other Twitter users who share similar interests.

The Communities feature is still a test, starting on iOS and the web version of the platform. Android will get the feature at a later date. Communities will have their own place on the platform, between the ‘explore’ and ‘notifications’ tabs within the platform. It is not known when the feature will be officially released, but Twitter is looking to expand the communities “in the coming months.”