Twitter just unveiled a new incarnation of its popular microblogging service, and it isn't exactly a big step forward. Basically, it's a Twitter that looks more like Facebook, and though that makes good sense for Twitter as a company, it doesn't change a whole lot in the larger world of online user experience.
But the day before the arrival of its new redesign, Twitter made a far more interesting move, acquiring a tiny startup that offers an entirely new interface on your smartphone screen. This startup is called Cover, and though Twitter isn't saying what it will do with the company, Cover's technology opens the door to several new ways Twitter could more closely tie its microblogging service into your smartphone and other devices. It could not only push the service to the front of your OS, but extensively tailor the service to where you are and what you're doing. In short, it could provide Twitter with a redesign that actually pushes the ball forward.
Cover offers an app that takes over your Android "lockscreen," the image that appears on your phone when you're not using it. But it doesn't just prevent others from accessing your phone when it's lost or stolen. It senses your movements, watches your daily schedule, and then serves up shortcuts to a shortlist of apps you're likely to want right now. When you're at the office, it might show you work apps like Google Drive and LinkedIn, and when you're at home, it might display entertainment apps like Netflix and Hulu Plus and Angry Birds. Plug in your headphones, and it might give you music apps. Go above 15 miles an hour, and you get driving apps.
This may sound a bit removed from a social network like Twitter. But Cover's breed of context-sensitive computing could be applied to almost anything, beefing up not only Twitter itself but improving the way it interoperates with other online services. Sure, Twitter may simply want Cover's engineering talent. Or it may have bought the company just to prevent someone else from doing so. Less than a year and a half old, Cover has only raised about $1.5 million in funding, and that means it's unlikely Twitter spent very much to pick up the company. But the immediate possibilities are hard to ignore. Here's how it might work.
A Better Twitter
As it stands, people adjust to different situations by launching different social networks. Foursquare makes sense when you're up late in a new city. Twitter makes sense when you want to chat about a sporting event or TV show. Facebook puts you in touch with relatives and old friends when you're on the couch on Sunday morning. But a system like Cover inverts the relationship, letting apps adjust themselves to your day. As these social networks expand their remit, trying to be all things to all people, something like Cover could allow them to morph on your phone as your day goes on.
To make itself more relevant to casual users, Twitter could use Cover to customize its interface based on your habits, associations, location, and other signals the Cover team already mines. If you tend to read news apps first thing in the morning, Twitter could give newsy tweets more prominence. If there's someone you call and text frequently who only tweets once or twice a week, it could make a point of showing you those tweets. If a particular band shows up in your music collection, it could ensure you see a tweet that says they're coming to your hometown.
The Twitter Apperating System
An "apperating system" is an app or constellation of apps that hooks deep into your mobile device and changes the way the whole thing operates, offering a software platform other apps can leverage as well. It's like an operating system that runs on top of your operating system. Facebook has tried this sort of thing with an app called Facebook Home, and though this has largely been a dud, there's room for Twitter to improve on the idea, perhaps succeed where Facebook has failed.
Twitter could create an apperating system that not only pushes its microblogging service to the front of your phone, but replaces other notification systems you use. So many services already send notifications to you through Twitter. Why not turn Twitter into the primary notification dashboard for your phone? With Cover's technology, it could filter notifications depending on where you are and what you're doing.
Wearable Twitter
With the rise of Google Glass and other wearable devices, Twitter must also look beyond beyond the smartphone, and Cover could be a way of doing that. For Gartner analyst Brian Blau, Twitter is already better positioned than most to make the leap to something like Google Glass -- because it deals in such tiny pieces of information -- and with Cover, it could further hone things for tiny wearable screens. "I think we'll see Twitter make a play for being the social conduit of these other technologies," Blau says, referring to wearables. "It's short-form expression, and it makes sense with other devices that don't have big displays."
A New Ad Machine
Facebook is making a killing selling advertisements that promote mobile apps. The company is particularly good at this because it often sees some of the apps you already use -- since many of them hook into the Facebook platform -- and it can target ads accordingly. Now, Twitter is on the verge of selling similar ads, according to the Wall Street Journal. The trouble is, it doesn't know much about what type of apps you like, since it's not integrated into nearly as many apps as Facebook.
But with Cover, Twitter could get a better idea of what apps you're using and how. And if Twitter can mine this data, it can charge a nice premium for its app-promoting ads. What's more, the company could actually use a Cover-like lockscreen to serve you ads. The question is whether such front-and-center advertising would turn people off.
It might. But this is where the world of social networks is moving. They're poised to continue expanding into other apps and services, and as they do this, they will also serve you ads. Twitter would be wise to take it easy on the ads, and no doubt it will. But the larger point here is that, one way or another, Cover can push Twitter into the future.
Additional reporting by Issie Lapowsky
