Smart thing about these new polls: They're meant to bring you back to Twitter.
Over the next few days, Twitter plans to give all its users the ability to conduct polls within tweets.
A limited number of people using Twitter gained access to this polling functionality over the past few weeks. Some have conducted useful polls, others have asked questions like this:
Honestly, how often do you shower/bathe?
Kidding aside, the polls can be a useful tool for Twitter in its attempts to increase engagement among its users. After you vote in a poll, Twitter follows up afterwards with a notification, prompting you to return to Twitter to see the results. It's a hard request to turn down, no matter how frivolous the poll -- after all, you have already expressed actionable interest on the topic.
Once you're back, why not stay for a while and see what else is going on? Or at least, that is the idea.
Here's the full Twitter blog post, released this morning, written by Twitter Product Manager Todd Sherman:
We're excited to share that in the coming days, everyone will be able to create polls on Twitter. And, with just a couple of taps, people can weigh in on all the topics they care about.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. Previously, we've offered a few ways to participate in polls — Tweeting questions and tracking replies, tallying hashtag votes, or asking followers to favorite or Retweet to vote. Now, you'll be able to create your own two-choice poll right from the compose box and it will remain live for 24 hours. You can vote on any poll, and how you voted is not shared publicly. When the poll closes, we'll send a push notification to everyone who participated to check out the final results. Over the next few days, we're rolling out the ability to create polls on iOS, Android, and on desktop at twitter.com. Once you see the poll icon shown above in the compose box, give it a try and create your own poll!