Birds of a feather, flock together: Twitter introduces Communities to bring people closer to those who get them

Some conversations aren’t for everyone, they’re just for the people who want to talk about the thing you want to talk about. Starting today, Twitter is testing Communities, a way to easily find and connect with people who want to talk about the same things you do.

When you join a Community, you can Tweet directly to that group instead of to all your followers. Only members in the same Community are able to reply and join the conversation so it stays intimate and relevant. While you can Tweet only to your Community for a focused conversation, Communities pages and timelines are publicly available so anyone can read, Quote Tweet, and report Community Tweets.

Twitter wants to continue to support public conversation and help people find Communities that match their interests while also creating a more intimate space for conversation. As it tests initially, Community moderators are approved by Twitter and all Communities and their members must follow the Twitter Rules.

With Communities, moderators pick the focus, create the Community rules, and invite the people who will make it a great place for conversation. All moderators have to continuously meet Twitter’s eligibility requirements, including not violating the Twitter Rules. Both members and non-members of Communities can report any potential violations of the Twitter Rules to Twitter.

Right now, Community creation is limited but in the coming months, Twitter will allow more people to create Communities so everyone can talk about their thing, whatever it is, and as the service opens up Community creation and moderation to more people, it will continue to refine eligibility requirements.

The initial Communities surround some popular conversations on Twitter including dogs, weather, sneakers, skincare, and astrology, with many more to come, reflecting more of the thriving discussions on Twitter.

Members can access Communities through the dedicated tab at the bottom of the app for iOS, or in the sidebar on Twitter.com. People can read Community Tweets on Twitter for Android too with more functionality coming soon. Anyone globally can be invited by a moderator or member to join a Community via Direct Messages.

Learn more about how Communities work here. You can also let Twitter know if you’re interested in creating a Community here. Right now, Communities are invite-only, but the service will be adding more ways to discover and join Communities soon.