I honestly don't know how big or small a deal this is, because there are no usage stats on Twitter Bookmarks use. But either way, Twitter has announced that it's running a small test of its Bookmarks feature on the web, with a view to rolling it out more broadly in the coming months.
Love to use Bookmarks and want it on web? Into scrolling through Explore to see what's happening?
— Twitter (@Twitter) September 6, 2018
We are testing out a new Twitter for web, which a small number of people will see today. Love it? Missing something? Reply and tell us. Don't have the new experience? Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/w4TiRrVFHU
Launched back in March, Bookmarks provides an alternative to liking a tweet that you may simply be looking to mark as something you want to check out later, instead of actually liking it. Adding Bookmarks to the web version will enable users to view their saved tweets across devices - up till now, you've only been able to access your Bookmarked tweets in the app, which has been a source of frustration for some cross-platform users.
Here's what the new Bookmarks section looks like on the web (via user Jim Connolly):
As noted, it's hard to say how big a deal the addition is, because Twitter, as yet, hasn't released any stats on Bookmarks use. Probably the closest comparison available is Facebook's 'Save' feature, which is used by 250 million users every month - or less than an eighth of the platform's total user base. That may not seem like a lot in the broader scale, but catering to the needs to 250 million users is important. For Twitter, if a comparative number of its users are looking to bookmark tweets for later, that would equate to around 42 million users.
The addition is part of a wider range of tweaks and updates for the desktop version, designed to make it faster and more responsive, with a couple of smaller tweaks added in between.
To bookmark a tweet in the Twitter app, you click on the ‘share’ icon below a tweet, then select ‘Add Tweet to Bookmarks’. When you want to go back to it, you select the ‘Bookmarks’ option from your profile settings. As noted, not all users will have access to the desktop version as yet, but it looks to be coming soon.