Twitter’s Project Lightning to power immersive live experiences
Twitter is set to up the ante when it comes to hosting curated live events with a new feature codenamed ‘Project Lightning’ which aims to bring curated content direct to users.
Ditching its traditional timeline format Twitter will instead opt for a multimedia focus centred on photos and video, accessible by a dedicated button on the Twitter app.
Speaking to BuzzFeed Twitter’s head of products said: “It could be current events. It could be breaking news. It could be awards shows or sports. But also cultural events and moments.”
This will package popular stories into a collection of curated tweets chosen by a team of editors, built around periscopes and Vines with a view to fully immersing the viewer. Each item will automatically expand to fill the full phone screen which can be swiped between.
People will also be able to ‘follow’ such events for their duration by having this content merge with their regular timeline.
Twitter promises that the service will be lag free and viewable even by people without a Twitter account.