Twitter is testing a morning news brief to help you 'catch up' on tweets

Twitter is testing a new feature that makes it easier to catch up on news first thing in the morning.

The update, which is currently being tested in the company's Android app, places news stories at the top of your timeline, along with with a prompt that says "catch up on what's happened while you were away."

Twitter's new feature to help users 'catch up' on news. Credit: screenshot / karissa Bell

In a statement, Twitter product manager Wally Gurzynski said the feature is meant to help people easily find news they may have missed since they last checked Twitter.

"People come to Twitter every day to catch up on what’s happening and all the surrounding conversation. With this update, we’re making it easier for people to see the news and stories their followers have been discussing while they’ve been away – right at the top of their timeline,” Gurzynski wrote.

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It's not clear exactly how long you have to be "away" before the prompt will appear, but the "good morning" heading suggests that it's meant to be a kind of morning news brief. Mashable saw the feature upon launching Twitter's Android app in the morning.

Twitter's new feature to help users 'catch up' on news. Credit: screenshot / karissa bell

In our tests, it surfaced a news story about Brexit and one about the court appearance of former Trump advisor Roger Stone.

This isn't the first time Twitter has added features to help users "catch up" on tweets. In 2015, the company introduced "while you were away" to make it easier to find important tweets. The company introduced its algorithmic timeline a year later in 2016, billing it as a way to "never miss an important tweet."

Credit: screenshot / karissa bell

But this latest feature is different in that it appears to be more focused on news stories, rather than just tweets that are interesting or popular. Tapping into the timeline for each story surfaced tweets only from news organizations -- in this case Reuters and NPR -- and didn't included commentary from others tweeting about these particular headlines.

It's not yet clear if the company plans to make this feature permanent, but it is in line with other feature Twitter's testing. Elsewhere, the company is currently testing a ton of other new features aimed at making it easier to follow specific conversations, as well as newsworthy events.

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