Twitter is rolling out its Community feature, a competitor to Facebook Groups and Reddit, to Android users around the world. Since its launch in September, Twitter communities have been restricted to iOS or the web, meaning Android users could only join and participate through a browser, not the native Twitter app.
Android users can now easily join, request to join or join Twitter communities, opening up the feature to many more Twitter users. Twitter communities operate as a private group or as a subreddit. Twitter users can choose to tweet directly to a Twitter community, and that tweet will not appear in their own feed or to their followers.
Twitter communities are still invite-only for those who want to create their own private community. Group owners can choose whether people need an invite to join a community or whether they are open.
If you’re interested in trying out the Twitter Communities feature, Twitter highlights the Roblox, Xbox Community, Tech Twitter, Fashion, R&B Twitter, and formula 1 communities that are all public and that anyone can join.
Twitter is also exploring an option to join communities so that groups can better control who joins a community. In addition to this new option, Twitter is also planning to test a ranked timeline that shows a community’s top tweets, ways mods can highlight content in the community, and methods for Q&As to be had with mods or members.