In January 2015, Twitter launched a group chat feature which allows private conversations for up to 20 people.

Twitter’s Group Hypothesis, Results, Pre-Launch Metrics

I believe Twitter’s Group Hypothesis was to continue the “voice” offline in private messaging. They would keep the conversation going privately, not publicly in the feed. The reasoning I think was to increase the user engagement after a user posted a tweet.

The main methods Twitter would measure results includes:

Tracking the number of Group Messages a user would join

Measuring the number of group chats for a given trend, special event, special time of day

Measuring the number of users within a single group chat, ie, 2, 4, 8, 16, 20 users

Splitting users in cohorts: measuring number of chats per demographic (millennials, adults, baby boomers, religion, tv fans)

Measuring the length of a group message lifecycle (1 day, 10 days, 20 days, ongoing)

Success Main Metrics for “Twitter Groups”

increased average session time within Group Messaging

increased DAU from Group messaging

increased advertising monetization (CPMs) when users increase session time

Designing an Additional Twitter Group Feature

After analyzing and using the Group functionality on Twitter, there is room for improvement. One of the features to add would be to segment groups in your personal inbox to build a relationships overtime. In my opinion, many people on existing social networks like Facebook have a relationship with the individual before they connect. If you don’t already have someone to engage with or really know how to use hashtags, Twitter can be a really lonely place. So the hashtag grouping organization in inbox will allow users to start discussions and a longer relationship. Twitter is very fast paced with its content, so building a few inbox stable groups will help users come back.

Screens

The following screens show the new segmented groups within inbox. They are color coded based on the group you have joined.

User flow