Twitter’s ‘You Both Follow’ being tested in the wild
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Some Twitter users recently discovered a new feature, called ‘You Both Follow,’ that shows a list of accounts that you and another person are both following on the social network. Although not publicized, it was confirmed by Twitter employee Nick Kallen in a tweet Wednesday night.
You Both Follow is featured in the Twitter profile sidebar. When viewing another person’s profile, a user can browse the You Both Follow list to see those folks who are followed by both accounts. Only profiles that are followed by both people are listed in the pane.
The feature, which is similar to Facebook’s ‘Mutual Friends’ offering, could be the next noticeable addition to Twitter’s interface. That said, Kallen said, ‘only 10% of people have it for now’ as Twitter continues to test it out. If those tests go well and Twitter thinks it will add value to the site, it’s certainly possible that the feature will get rolled out to every user.
How much value the You Both Follow feature will add to Twitter is anyone’s guess. It’s possible that Twitter will try to use it the way Facebook uses Mutual Friends and help users find people with whom they are more likely to connect.
It might also be a good way to more easily browse a user’s most interesting or relevant followers. Currently, it’s easy to get bogged down in an entire listing of followers that includes spambots, news services and celebrities.
Twitter has yet to confirm if You Both Follow will become permanent. But based on Kallen’s tweet, it seems rather likely that the feature will be making its way to the service eventually.
--Don Reisinger