Say goodbye to the RT-for-Yes-Fav-for-No Twitter poll. Soon nobody will have to use a workaround to find out how their Twitter followers think about an issue.
Twitter announced today that it is rolling out native polling to all users. The company introduced the polling feature last month, testing it with a small number of brands, most notably in the sports, media and entertainment industries. Now anyone will be able to use the simple engagement tool.
Twitter product manager Todd Sherman described the appeal of polling on Twitter in a blog post:
If you want the public’s opinion on anything — what to name your dog, who will win tonight’s game, which election issue people care most about — there’s no better place to get answers than on Twitter. For poll creators, it’s a new way to engage with Twitter’s massive audience and understand exactly what people think. For those participating, it’s a very easy way to make your voice heard.
Twitter polling enables creation of a query with two possible answers. The poll is displayed within a tweet, giving users the ability to vote with a click or tap, and results are tabulated in real time. Each poll remains active for 24 hours, with the time left to vote being displayed on the poll. After the poll expires, results are given in percentage form and displayed, as shown in this recent poll by Nissan USA:
Nissan Fan Poll: If you had a #Nissan #GTR for a day, how would you spend it? — Nissan (@NissanUSA) October 14, 2015
Previously, polling on Twitter was limited to advertisers using custom Twitter Cards, by asking questions and tracking replies or rigging a way to count hashtags.
The polling feature, which Twitter says will be rolling out in the next few days on iOS, Android and Twitter.com, is accessible from the compose box on each of those platforms. It’s likely to be very popular with brands and businesses, given the ease of creation and the low-hanging fruit of extra engagement.
To add to the stickiness of the polls, Twitter is also including a feature that wasn’t reported during testing. After polls expire, Twitter will send a push notification to all the people who participated, prompting them to check out the final results.
Coming soon! We're rolling out the ability for everyone to create polls on Twitter: https://t.co/pH5a8q9Ujz pic.twitter.com/ijAKEMUdf1 — Twitter (@twitter) October 21, 2015
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