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Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
Lifestyle
London - Asharq Al-Awsat

Twitter Launches 140-second Voice Tweets

The Twitter application seen on a phone screen. Photo: Reuters

Twitter plans to roll out a voice tweet feature that let users share up to 140 seconds of audio along with their written tweets.

According to Twitter product designer Maya Patterson and senior software engineer Rémy Bourgoin, only Apple users will be able to use the new audio tweets feature in the coming weeks.

"Sometimes 280 characters aren't enough and some conversational nuances are lost in translation. So starting today, we're testing a new feature that will add a more human touch to the way we use Twitter. Your very own voice," Patterson and Bourgoin said.

"Each voice tweet can record up to 140 seconds of audio, and recordings that go longer will automatically create a thread of voice recordings to post. People will see your voice tweet appear on their timeline alongside other tweets," the pair said.

Twitter did not indicate when voice tweets might be available in the version of its application tailored for Android-powered mobile devices.

Earlier this month, Twitter announced a new feature that limits the sharing of articles by users who didn't read them.

The new feature, through which users would be asked whether they read a post before retweeting it, aims to curb the spread of information that is not fact-checked.

"Sharing an article can spark conversation, so you may want to read it before you tweet it," Twitter's technical support team said.

"When you retweet an article that you haven't opened on Twitter, we may ask if you'd like to open it first," Twitter said.

It is worth noting that Twitter and many other platforms are making efforts to curb the spread of misinformation.

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