Twitter has confirmed that it is doing experiments that allow users to add short polls to their tweets. The social network's new native poll feature is available on its website and mobile apps, but could later appear in a bigger rollout including desktop applications and the social media giant's 316 million monthly active users (MAUs).
Twitter polls are only available on the Web and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, and seem to have a 24-hour time limit, according to Venture Beat. It might later be available for TweetDeck's desktop and laptop users.
Twitter has tried to add polls to its messaging service in the past. For example, companies previously used custom card polls to ask their followers quick questions, and last year the company announced that it was testing a feature to support publishers' native ads.
A small group of Twitter users now have access to the polls. They include Twitter employees, and media and sports profiles.
Instagram recently celebrated 400 million MAUs, and has already passed Twitter to become the second-most popular social network after its parent company Facebook. The bird-logo company has also struggled with CEO and content issues in the past.
Twitter's new poll feature has already received some criticism. It seems to be the antithesis of the company's mission of the social network being a platform for people to share what is on their minds, in real time.
Facebook learned long ago that tons of structured data is needed to boost revenue. Twitter requires it also. However, a better approach would arguably be to analyze the 140-character tweets of its 300+ million active users for various signals, according to Tech Crunch.