Launched in 2014, audio cards contain tracks that can be played through Twitter from selected streaming services, including Apple iTunes, SoundCloud, Rhapsody, and now Spotify.
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For listeners, Twitter audio cards allow you to hear 30-second snippets from tracks whilst browsing your timeline, meaning you no longer have to follow links to external web players, reports TechCrunch.
Consequently, the biggest music streaming platform’s glaring absence from Twitter has finally been rectified. As the threat from rival services, primarily Apple Music, grows ever larger, Spotify has evidently decided that it’s better late than never when it comes to joining the Twitter party. It certainly makes sense for it to be part of the music-driven conversation on Twitter, with talk of artists, albums, and tracks often trending on the social network.
Additionally, Spotify streams will also be featured within Twitter Moments — the social network’s curated news feed. A summer soundtrack Moment is already live, reflecting the playlist-like aspect of the feature. Within Moments, all you have to do is hover over the Spotify track to hear it. Seeing as the music platform’s Discover Weekly playlists have been such a huge hit — reportedly attracting 40 million listeners in the past three months — the Moments feature may well continue that trend.
It was recently revealed that Spotify’s overall user base has grown to around 100 million members, putting it miles ahead of the competition. Twitter, for its part, has merely flirted with music — even launching a (failed) audio streaming service that crowdsourced tracks from its platform. Since then it has focused on building relationships with streaming services through its audio cards integration feature. Twitter will be hoping that Spotify’s presence within tweets will keep users glued to its service, and maybe even gain it a reputation as a place to discover music.
