Social messaging platform, Twitter, on Monday added a voice messaging feature to its platform, selecting Nigeria and Turkey as first two countries to experiment it before taking it round.
The company’s preference for Nigeria could not be unconnected to the massive subscription it enjoys in Nigeria. It is estimated that well over 7million Nigerians are on twitter.
The new feature allows users a limit of 140 seconds for each recording.
Explaining why it opted for the new feature, Twitter said that there’s a lot that can be left unsaid or un-interpreted using text, and, so with the voice features it hopes to create a more human experience for listeners and story tellers alike.
A statement from Twitter reads, “We want to encourage everyone to start private conversations about what matters to them using voice messages. We are looking forward to seeing how our feature is used in these two countries and receiving the feedback on this experiment.
“Twitter is where you go to talk about what’s happening. We are constantly listening to what people who use Twitter want and testing new features to make it even easier for them to have conversations anywhere on our service, including Direct Messages (DMs).
“To make chatting in DMs more convenient, we are bringing voice messages to DMs. This experiment is rolling out in Turkey and Nigeria from today. This will give people more ways to express themselves clearly and quickly, whether they’re on the move, or there’s just too much to type.
“For a hands-free experience, in a DM conversation, account holders can tap the new voice recording icon once to begin recording. Tap the stop icon when completed and people will have the option to listen to their recording before sending or deleting it. Alternatively, they can also quickly send by holding down the voice recording icon and swiping up to send immediately after they’re done talking.”
On April 12, Twitter had however shunned Nigeria by opening its Africa Operation Headquarters in Ghana.
