The feature has been made available on the social media site’s iPhone app from today.
The option to record and tweet audio appears when creating a post, with a button showing next to the camera and media sections.
Users will then be able to record a limited audio clip before sharing it to their followers.
“Each voice Tweet captures up to 140 seconds of audio. Have more to say? Keep talking.
“Once you reach the time limit for a Tweet, a new voice Tweet starts automatically to create a thread. Once you’re done, tap the Done button to end your recording and go back to the composer screen to Tweet,” Twitter said in a blog post.
You can Tweet a Tweet. But now you can Tweet your voice!
Rolling out today on iOS, you can now record and Tweet with audio. pic.twitter.com/jezRmh1dkD
— Twitter (@Twitter) June 17, 2020
iOS users will also have the ability to scroll other tweets as they listen to audio, with playback starting in a new window at the bottom of their timeline.
Social media commentator Matt Navarra is amongst those who have had access to the feature, showing that there is also the option to pause and continue recordings.
The final audio feature appears as a video, with a person’s profile picture in the middle.
NEW Twitter feature alert!
Audio clips for tweets pic.twitter.com/lhiSZT71U8
— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) June 17, 2020
Only a “limited group of people” will currently have access to the iOS feature, with the tool becoming available to everyone “in the coming weeks”.
It has not yet been announced when it will be rolled out on Android devices.
Update – 20.06.20: An apology has been issued by Twitter, after deaf and disabled users raised concerns over the accessibility of the new audio tweet feature.
In a thread, Twitter Support said accessibility “should not be an afterthought”.
“We’ve fixed several issues related to vision accessibility, including making voice Tweets identifiable on the timeline and making accessibility improvements to the voice Tweet experience.
“These updates will be available in a forthcoming iOS release.
“We’re already exploring ideas for how we could support manual and auto transcriptions.
The account also said that Twitter is looking at building a “dedicated group” to focus on “tooling and advocacy”, after Twitter Able co-founder Andrew Hayward tweeted that there was “no formal team” looking at accessibility on the platform.
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