Internet related News · 2015-10-15

Microsoft’s experimental twist to photo messaging – New app

new photo messaging appHow would you like to start messaging with an app that allows you to split your device screen to show 2 images? Microsoft’s new iOS app Twist is something like that. A new project from Microsoft Garage, actually, the concept for Twist is simple. You start a conversation screen that is vertically divided in 2. You take a photo, type a message over the top & it fills the top half. The recipient on the other end will do the same, replying by taking up the bottom half. It becomes a storytelling device that can spin off ad infinitum, rather than just capturing fleeting moments.

“We observed how photos are being shared & used, & more importantly how photos are turning into the medium of conversations,” wrote Chong Han Chua, Program Manager on the Twist team in Microsoft Newsroom. “They use memes as a way of expressing something. That sort of pictorial expression, especially using images that are well understood in popular culture, is extremely powerful. We’re hoping to tap into the emotional & expressive aspects of visual communication.”

Jennifer Shen, Principal Program Manager lead added, “Many messaging apps are adding functionality to make their experiences feel richer, such as stickers, emoji & animated gifs. We wanted to look at ways we could make that experience even better. That’s how we landed on a photo canvas as a rich medium, as a way you can really share your current situation, funny moments, spark creativity, etc.”

Chua said they 1st thought of the app as a fast way of responding to a communication, but as the team’s thinking evolved, they thought about how Content could take unexpected twists, how a person’s response could change the meaning & direction of the original conversation & make it into an entirely new story.

For now, Twist is available to users in US & Canada.

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Image Credit: Microsoft Newsroom

 

 

 

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