Imagine that you love American football and want to find interesting tweets about this sport on Twitter. However, when you search for information, you only find meaningless tweets from random fans. This is a common problem on Twitter.
To solve this problem, Twitter has started rolling out a new feature called Topics. Now you can follow more than 300 areas of interest — whether sports, entertainment, or gaming — just like you follow regular accounts. You’ll then see tweets from users you don’t follow but who have expertise or opinions on the topic you’re interested in.
The feature has been in testing for Android users since August. It’s now rolling out worldwide. Here’s what you need to know about it.
Why are Twitter topics important?
Twitter thinks this feature will be ideal for fans of a particular topic, or so-called fandom. Instead of following multiple official accounts, whether it’s a professional sports team or a music group, you can simply follow a topic, and Twitter will show you popular tweets. Topics are also public — anyone (who can see your full profile) will be able to see the topics you follow.
Here’s how Twitter describes the new feature:
“Following a topic helps you stay informed and see more relevant content, including tweets, events, and announcements about that topic. You’ll see suggestions to follow topics in your feed and in search results. Click ‘Follow’ and we’ll personalize your Twitter experience based on your interest in that topic. We may also suggest other topics we think you might be interested in based on your profile and activity, such as tweets you’ve seen or liked.”
Twitter is working on several aspects of themes, including the ability to turn them off and exploring the ability to view themes on a separate page.
How to use Twitter themes?
How to unsubscribe from a topic
From your home feed:
- In your home feed, find a tweet about a topic you follow.
- Click the down arrow icon at the top of the tweet and select Unfollow .
From the topics section:
- Click on Topics in your profile menu .
- Click Unsubscribe next to the desired topic.
How to see topics someone else is subscribed to
Twitter says up to 100 topics you follow are visible at a time in the Topics menu . Soon, you’ll be able to see the topics someone else follows (if their tweets are public or you’re an approved follower).
On Twitter for iOS, Android, and twitter.com:
- Go to the user profile.
- Click the More menu (three dots) at the top of the page.
- Select View Topics .