newsonaut

Turning inner space into outer space

November 15, 2013

Twitter custom timelines are no replacement for Storify

When you use Twitter’s new custom timeline feature, there is a sense of déjà vu if you’ve ever used Storify. You search for tweets, then drag-and-drop them into the timeline.

Before you think about dumping Storify, though, take a deep breath. Twitter’s custom timelines don’t have nearly as many features.

Sam Kirkland sums it up quite nicely at Poynter. Among his observations:

Among the apparent drawbacks: No ability to add text between tweets. Storify embeds can often stand alone as stories with all necessary context included, thanks to in-line comments advancing a narrative.

Where things could get interesting is with the release of an API for developers. This will allow automation in the selection of tweets that could be done in some creative ways. I look forward to seeing some of the innovations.