X

Twitter adds features for iOS, tweaks mobile search

The microblogging site says its new "Top Tweets" feature brings more relevant search results.

Donna Tam Staff Writer / News
Donna Tam covers Amazon and other fun stuff for CNET News. She is a San Francisco native who enjoys feasting, merrymaking, checking her Gmail and reading her Kindle.
Donna Tam
2 min read
Twitter introduces Top Tweets. Twitter

Twitter says it has tweaked its mobile search to make tweet results more relevant.

The company rolled out a Top Tweets feature today. When you search for a topic, Twitter will produce a tweet labeled "Top Tweet" that is "the best match for your query based on relevance and engagement," according to Twitter's blog post.

To see additional tweets from the same time period, tap "View more from this time." Twitter recommends searching for "four more years" or "deep challenge" to see an example, but it's still rolling out so you may not see it right away.

The company is also adding some features to its apps for theiPhone and the iPad. Users need to download the latest apps to see the updates. One feature keeps tweets prominent to make sure people don't forget to retweet or their favorite tweets, thereby keeping more interactions within its network:

When you open a link from a tweet in your timeline, you'll see that tweet displayed at the bottom of the app's built-in web browser. This provides additional context to the page you're viewing, and makes it easy for you to retweet, favorite or reply to the tweet as you're reading an article or watching a video. If you don't want to see the tweet, simply tap the page and the tweet will slide away from view. By pulling up or down on the tray icon, the tweet will appear or disappear from view.

iOS users will also see more hashtag, topic, and username suggestions in autocomplete when they do a search or compose a tweet. Twitter says it will update these suggestions more frequently from now on.