Twitter adds feature to give summary of the most interesting things on your feed

TWITTER is about to get a whole lot more personal for Android users with the rollout of a new feature called Highlights.

FILE - In this May 21, 2013 file photo, a view of an iPhone in Washington showing the Twitter app, right, among others. Think of it as tweeting for dollars. The social media service Twitter on Tuesday introduced a feature that enables political candidates and advocacy groups to raise money directly via its mobile application, making it quicker and easier to harvest small donations from followers. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

TWITTER is about to get a whole lot more personal with the rollout of a new feature.

The latest addition to Twitter, known as Highlights, is a simple summary of the most interesting things on your feed delivered to you via a push notification.

Staff Software Engineer at Twitter, Gordon Luk, said the feature was a vital new element to the social media platform.

“We use a variety of methods to work through the high volume of tweets so we can figure out what people want to see,” he told news.com.au

“We look at things like the accounts and conversations that are popular among people you follow, Tweets from people you’re closely tied to, topics and events that are trending in your area or within your network, and people that are popular or trending among people you follow.

“What we saw in test rollout was users were spending more time on Twitter and also had a higher level of engagement.”

Mr Luk said users will initially receive one push notification every other day, although this could change over time depending on the tweeters habits.

“When you open the notification, you’ll go directly into the Twitter app where your Highlights will be displayed in a new interface,” he said.

“View them all by swiping through from right to left. When you’ve reached the last one, another swipe puts you directly into your home timeline.

“If people are using the service a lot, they will receive more notifications and if they do not engage, notifications will taper off.”

Currently, the feature will only be available for android apps and will be rolled out globally in all 35+ languages that Twitter supports from today.

Apple and desktop users will have to wait a little longer to take advantage of the feature with no release date set for those devices.

If you are an Android user, you should automatically start receiving Highlights notifications.

If this is not the case, it might be worthwhile checking your mobile settings to ensure notifications are on.

If you don’t have notifications on, here’s how to do it:

- Tap the overflow icon and then tap Settings.

- Tap the account for which you’d like to receive notifications.

- Tap mobile notifications and make sure they’re turned on.

- Check the box next to Highlights.