Earlier this summer, we introduced the ability to expand Tweets to see content previews, photos and videos right within a Tweet. At that time, we were working with a small group of partners. Today there are more than 2,000 ways to bring more interactive and engaging Tweets to your stream –– on twitter.com, as well as Twitter for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.

When you click a Tweet that contains a link to a partner site, the Tweet will expand, and you'll be able to see more content directly within it. Here are some examples; we're working to offer even more options.

Amazon lets you view product descriptions, prices, ratings and reviews within a Tweet. It also offers the option to include the @username of the seller, so buyers and sellers can connect directly on Twitter.

CNN makes it possible for you to experience strong moments of the US presidential debate right on Twitter. Not only does CNN display video clip within the Tweet, but also live statistics about reactions.

Music applications like Soundcloud let you preview songs that others are sharing on Twitter. Soundcloud even lets you 'like' a song, or share it via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or email right from the Tweet.

With Fandango, you can see trailers and videos of the hottest movies out in theaters, view Path photos shared on Twitter, or decide whether or not to take your umbrella with you by checking out Tweets with links to The Weather Channel. You can even use Tweets to shop –– expand a Tweet with a link to Topfloor to view videos for their sales.

From personal blogs like The Modern Nomad to nonprofits like Crowdmap to large publications, such as National Geographic (which displays its renowned beautiful photos within a Tweet), there are now more than 2,000 examples that demonstrate what's possible within a Tweet. By providing more information in Tweets, we hope to help you more easily find exactly what you're looking for –– right here on Twitter.

For more information on how to participate in this program and show more content in Tweets that link to your site, visit our developer site.

Posted by Sylvain Carle - @froginthevalley
Developer Advocate

This fall, Twitter chatter around fashion was vibrant, and one unusual suspect emerged into the center of the conversation: yogurt.

Through a first-of-its-kind strategic partnership with Marie Claire magazine (@marieclaire) and Twitter, Yoplait (@yoplait) launched a dynamic contest in the pages of the September issue and on Twitter, asking fashion fans to tweet a photo of an original look inspired by one of Yoplait's 40 flavors with the hashtag #SOgoodfashion.

The lucky winner was Wisconsin resident and fashion blogger Gabrielle Pedriani (@LooksharpWI), who received an exclusive behind-the-scenes trip to New York Fashion Week (#NYFW), a meet-and-greet with Fashion Director and expert Tweeter Nina Garcia (@NinaGarcia), and inclusion in a custom Yoplait ad in the November issue.

@yoplait #SOgoodfashion Raspberries and blueberries and strawberries, oh my! SO inspired by the Mixed Berry flavor! twitter.com/looksharpWI/st…
— Look Sharp Sconnie (@looksharpWI) August 18, 2012

@yoplait @marieclaire Thank you for an AHHmazing weekend. #YogurtForTheWin
— Look Sharp Sconnie (@looksharpWI) October 23, 2012

Keep following your interests on Twitter to take advantage of special opportunities that bring you closer to the people and events that matter most to you. To check out the @Yoplait advertorial, pick up a copy of Marie Claire’s November issue.

Posted by Josh Grau - (@Grauface)
Head of Brand Strategy - West & Central

After a resounding four-game sweep, and a dramatic rain-soaked clinch in Game 7, the Detroit Tigers (@Tigers) and the San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) will face off tonight for the first game of the World Series. Of course, nothing can beat the experience of being at the ballpark. But Twitter can bring you closer to every pitch of the Fall Classic: to date, throughout the postseason, we’ve seen well over 15 million Tweets about baseball.

Leading into tonight’s game, here are the perspectives you can only find on Twitter:

It's time to get to work! We're in San Francisco and getting ready for Game 1. #LetsGoTigers twitter.com/tigers/status/…
— Detroit Tigers (@tigers) October 24, 2012

Panda on how to approach Verlander: "Swing the bat." Scutaro: "That's Pablo's approach against everyone."
— Henry Schulman (@hankschulman) October 23, 2012

Congrats to @sfgiants. Heck of a team. Best of luck to them. Win it for the NL.
— Jason Motte (@JMotte30) October 23, 2012

National league champions what !!!! Campeones de la liga nacional a la world series !! twitter.com/hectorsfgiants…
— hector sanchez (@hectorsfgiants) October 23, 2012

If the championship title went to the team with the most Twitter mentions, the @SFGiants would be taking home rings, besting the @Cardinals, @Tigers, and @Yankees during the race for the pennant. Throughout the postseason, the most discussed player was Derek Jeter, followed by fellow Yankee Alex Rodriguez. Tonight’s starter for Detroit, @JustinVerlander, came in third.

Starting tonight for the @SFGiants will be southpaw Barry Zito, who inspired this postseason’s biggest meme: the #RallyZito movement on Twitter. Since he was starting their elimination game on the road, fans took to Twitter to show their outpouring of support through the hashtag and changing their avatars. Zito finished the game with 5 strikeouts and over 50,000 #RallyZito Tweets. Fans continued the momentum for the subsequent pitchers, with #RallyVogey (and #RallyEnchiladas in honor of his pre-game ritual) and #RallyCain (or #RallyHorse) bringing in over 100,000 Tweets.

Unreal the amount of enchiladas being tweeted to me right now! Love it! Here are Ry's @sfgiantsfans #RallyEnchiladas twitter.com/nicolevogelson…
— Nicole Vogelsong (@nicolevogelsong) October 21, 2012

Already Trending (4 hours until 1st pitch: Game 7 - #SFGiants - #RallyCain
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) October 22, 2012

7 IP, 5 K, 0 ER. #RallyZito is evidence that Twitter affects pitching performance.
— ESPN (@espn) October 20, 2012

Other teams throughout the postseason have used their own creative hashtags to rally their fans, like #BUCKleUp for the @Orioles, #12in12 for the @Cardinals, and #NATITUDE for the @Nationals. Tonight, it’s all about the #WorldSeries!

Posted by Omid Ashtari (@omid)
Head of Sports & Entertainment

It seems like there are certainties every week in the @NFL; heroics, injuries, spectacular catches, and now, a comeback lead by Eli in the last two minutes, which lead the @giants to be one of the most tweeted-about teams yet again.

This week’s most buzzed-about games on Twitter are:

1. @giants vs. @redskins
2. @detroitlionsNFL vs. @Chicagobears
3. @nyjets vs. @patriots

And this week’s most tweeted-about player? It was @RGIII who, despite the @redskins loss, put forward an impressive performance and raked in more than 140,000 Tweets.  

“He’s the most athletic quarterback I’ve ever seen” - Mike Ditka on @rgiii
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) October 21, 2012

Because each week brings drama and excitement to the field and to Twitter, we’re also sharing our picks for the top #NFL Tweets of the week. Here are some noteworthy Tweets that are worth a RT:

I'm ready to believe Eli is not human. Archie made him in a lab. He has no memory. Immediately forgets awful INTs. Feels no late pressure.
— Skip Bayless (@RealSkipBayless) October 22, 2012

If you enjoy football, and the art of QB, please find video of last Rodgers throw to Randall Cobb.#masterful
— trey wingo (@wingoz) October 21, 2012

(See the video here.)

Tough to see Maurice Jones-Drew on crutches on sideline.Has more than 75 family members and friends in stands.#Jaguars
— jaguarsinsider (@jaguarsinsider) October 21, 2012

Check back in again next week for more!

Posted by Omid Ashtari - (@omid)
Head of Sports and Entertainment

Tonight, the presidential candidates came together for the last of the debates to discuss foreign policy. And while it was a busy evening with several events competing for viewers’ attention, the political conversation on Twitter remained strong with 6.5 million Tweets sent about the 90-minute debate this evening.

Specific moments generating the greatest volume of conversation throughout the night were:
--105,767 TPM - 9:45pm EDT - Obama: "We also have fewer horses and bayonets"
--102,339 TPM - 10:31pm EDT - Schieffer: "I think we all love teachers"
--87,040 TPM - 9:58pm EDT - Romney on Obama's "apology tour"

Now take a look at percentage of debate conversation broken out by topic:
--Foreign Policy - 54%
--The Economy - 20%
--Terrorism - 9% Taxes - 7%
--Energy and the Environment - 4%

As usual, influencers from both sides of the aisle were able to join the conversation on Twitter:

I think POTUS just sank Romney's battleship
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) October 23, 2012

I think I can see why the American people are focused on the economy.
— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) October 23, 2012

And as we’ve seen throughout the big events during this election, parody accounts appeared almost instantly, capturing the debate zeitgeist in real-time:

Was that Joe Biden laughing #debate #BocaDebate
— Horses and Bayonets (@Horsesbayonette) October 23, 2012

Thus concludes this election’s presidential debates. Keep following @gov as we’ll have a lot more to share heading into election day.

Posted by Adam Sharp (@AdamS)
Head of Government, News & Social Innovation

Tonight, the presidential candidates will meet at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida for their third and final debate, which focuses on foreign policy. With election day just 15 days away, we’re throwing the spotlight on several ways you can get closer to the campaign’s biggest issues and participate on Twitter.

At election.twitter.com, you’ll see several new sections that offer greater insight into the political conversation that’s happening on Twitter. While our daily Twitter Political Index scores measure the sentiment of Tweets, our enhanced dashboard, designed for web and mobile viewing, shows the topics that are driving the discussion. The dashboard is segmented to highlight the issues at the forefront of this election cycle (the economy, immigration, healthcare, and so on), as well as hot topics that are currently generating discussion (Benghazi, pay equality).

Another place to follow the Twitter discussion in real time tonight will be on Fox News. Using data from Mass Relevance, they’ll show a real-time Tweet counter in the lower portion of the screen. Throughout the debate, you’ll be able to see the moments and issues that generate the strongest online response.

As you’ll see by the conversational ebb and flow around these issues, Twitter is the pulse of the campaign: where the storylines are often developed, where voters react, where communities connect and discuss.

What’s more, the conversation that starts on Twitter doesn’t stop there. CNN, Votizen and Yahoo! News have built great Twitter integrations that make it easy to keep up with and participate in their election conversations. Read about those here.

Whether you’re following the conversation online, researching hot topics on your phone, or sharing your favorite moments from on-air, you’re participating in this 140 character election.

We’ll be back after tonight’s debate to share insights into the moments and issues that your Tweets have driven to the forefront of political discussion.

Posted by Adam Sharp (@AdamS)
Head of Government, News & Social Innovation

On most Monday mornings, we’ll post “This week on Twitter” to alert you to key things happening in the coming week. Whether it’s a live chat with the cast of your favorite TV show, a Q&A with a political candidate or a pro sports team Tweepstakes, this is the way to keep current on the Can’t-Miss-Moments on Twitter for the week ahead. - Ed. 

22 Oct. - James Bond in 140 characters

Fifty years ago this month, the first James Bond debuted, a memorable new character was born, and today fans around the world share their passion for all things Bond. Author Charlie Higson (@monstroso) will take to Twitter on Tuesday for a special live-tweeting event to celebrate Ian Fleming’s Bond novels in 140 characters or less. 



Tweeting in chronological order, Higson will distill Casino Royale, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, From Russia with Love, Dr. No, Goldfinger, Thunderball, The Spy Who Loved Me, O.H.M.S.S, You Only Live Once, and The Man with the Golden Gun. 



He will also host a live Q&A session on Twitter on Tuesday between 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. ET. Bond fans can tweet him questions using the hashtag  #BondTweets. 



24 Oct. - Live tweeting with @ScandalABC 

For all of you @ScandalABC fans out there, we have launched the #AskScandal events page where fans can ask their favorite cast members questions each Thursday for the next three weeks.

New Xtreme Sport - acting while tweeting! #AskScandal
— kerry washington (@kerrywashington) October 19, 2012



Live-tweeters include:
Kerry Washington @kerrywashington

Columbus Short @ColumbusShort1

Guillermo Diaz @guillermodiazyo

Katie Lowes @KatieQLowes
Joshua Malina @JoshMalina

Darby Stanchfield @darbystnchfld

Tony Goldwyn @TonyGoldwyn

Bellamy Young @BellamyYoung
Jeff Perry @JScandalP




Oct. 24 - #LegendsOnTwitter - @NeilYoung 

This coming Wednesday at 3 p.m. ET, our #LegendsOnTwitter series features Twitter-newbie and rock legend @NeilYoung, who will be doing a live Twitter Q&A with his fans from his Northern California ranch.

Look forward to talking to all of you music lovers. Will be doing a #TwitterLegends Q&A with fans about #PsychPill before the release!
— Neil Young (@neilyoung) September 25, 2012

#Halloween: Tweeting with the stars 

This week @abcnetwork hosts live Twitter chats for the Halloween episodes of their prime time shows. Starting on Wednesday, Oct. 24, and ending on Halloween night, fans of @abcnetwork primetime can join in the conversation with cast members and fans alike.

The lineup: 

Wed. 10/24 8:30 p.m. ET/7:30 CT

“The Neighbors,” @TheNeighborsABC, #TheNeighbors

Follow: Tim Jo @hellotimjo



Wed. 10/24 9:00 p.m. ET/8:00 CT
 
“Modern Family,” @ModernFam, #ModernFamily

Follow: @TwitterTV for details



Wed. 10/24 9:30 p.m. ET/ 8:30 CT
 
“Suburgatory,” @SuburgatoryABC, #Suburgatory

Follow: Ana Gasteyer @anagasteyer



Thurs. 10/25 9:00 p.m. ET/ 8:00 CT
 
“Grey’s Anatomy,” @GreysABC, #GreysAnatomy

Follow: Kevin McKidd @TheRealKMcKidd



Just had our table read for our Halloween episode. Haven't laughed that hard in so long #Suburgatory
— Carly Chaikin (@carlychaikin) August 13, 2012



See you next week! 



Posted by Rachael Horwitz - (@rachaelrad)

Twitter Communications

Twitter is a place to tell stories. Often those stories are about news, or politics, or perhaps sports or music, but it turns out Twitter is a great place for telling fictional stories, too. As one professor from Michigan State University says, “Tweeting can be thought of as a new literary practice.” We want to celebrate that.

At the end of November, we’ll host a five-day Twitter Fiction Festival — a virtual storytelling celebration held entirely on Twitter. The Twitter Fiction Festival (#twitterfiction) will feature creative experiments in storytelling from authors around the world.

Twitter has hosted great experiments in fiction already, from Jennifer Egan’s “Black Box” to Teju Cole’s “Small Fates” to Dan Sinker’s @mayoremanuel. And Twitter has even inspired some literary criticism.

If your Designated Mate is widely feared, the beauties at the house party where you’ve gone undercover to meet him will be especially kind.

— New Yorker Fiction (@NYerFiction) May 25, 2012

Modernity and tradition are fighting again: an electrical fault burned down half of the Emir's palace in Ilorin.

— Teju Cole (@tejucole) October 17, 2012

Elected mayor tonight. Sucked into a time vortex tomorrow. Might as well KICK THIS PARTY OFF RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

— Rahm Emanuel (@MayorEmanuel) February 23, 2011

Now we want to go further! Twitter is a frontier for creative experimentation, and we want to invite authors and creative storytellers around the world to push the bounds of what’s possible with Twitter content.

If you’d like to take part in the Twitter Fiction Festival, submit your idea here. Tell us how you are going to explore content formats that already exist on Twitter — short story in Tweets, a Twitter chat, live-tweeting — or, even better, how you’ll create a new one. How will you work with our real-time global platform, where anyone can contribute to your story at any moment? The proposal must fit into the time window of our five day festival— but that means that a project could run for the length of the festival, or just for an hour.

We’ll announce the selected authors and festival agenda on Monday, November 19th and the festival itself will kick off on November 28th. We look forward to reading all of your stories.

Posted by Andrew Fitzgerald - @magicandrew
Editorial Programming, Media Team

Every day, Twitter users send 400 million Tweets expressing a vast array of ideas and opinions. Collectively, and studied in aggregate, public Tweets are not only measurable. They can reveal any number of clues and trends about who we are: our cultures, our mindsets, who we favor or disfavor, and much more.

For instance, analyzing billions of Tweets helped two researchers unlock new insights about public health issues and the way disease is spread.

Each week the millions of Tweets about the U.S. presidential candidates provide a real-time barometer of voter sentiment. Sometimes Twitter data can even help people when they need it most: during moments of crisis like natural disasters.

Capturing these trends and ideas involves processing and deriving insights from enormous amounts of data. Since we live increasingly connected lives about which we share information on Twitter and other services, there is a growing desire to understand what this kind of data can tell us about ourselves.

This is one reason we’re pleased to take part in a significant project called The Human Face of Big Data. It's a project that represents a captivating attempt to explain humanity's new ability to collect, analyze, triangulate and visualize vast amounts of data in real time, creating what amounts to a central nervous system for our world. A free mobile app in  A free mobile app for Android and iOS versions lets anyone in the world be a part of the conversation. You’ll be able to share everything you learn about yourself on Twitter via the app.

The Human Face team is also publishing a large-format book on November 20th featuring the remarkable stories and images that illustrate the immense range of big data efforts that already shape our world. With the project’s permission, we’re able to share this wonderful spread about Twitter from the book with you, designed by famed infographics guru Nigel Holmes (@nigelblue).

Finally, at 11am PT/2pm ET tomorrow (Oct. 19) I will be doing a Twitter chat with the @FaceOfBigData team about the role of Twitter in capturing and revealing our patterns and interest trends. Join us on the chat by including #bigdatachat and #HFOBD in your Tweets. Look forward to speaking with you all then.

Posted by Isaac Hepworth - @isaach
Media Team

As the presidential candidates met at Hofstra University tonight to answer questions from a group of self-declared undecided voters, viewers around the country came to Twitter to participate in the debate exchanges and offer their own commentary. Throughout tonight’s 90-minute #debate, 7.2 million Tweets were sent.

The specific moments that generated the highest amounts of conversation were:
-Audience question to Romney on immigration (109,560 TPM)
-Obama to Romney: "You're the last person to get tough on China" (108,619 TPM)
-Romney's response to tax rates question (107,386 TPM)


We also analyzed the volume of conversation around some of the campaign’s biggest issues. With 28% of Tweets sent, the economy was the most-discussed topic this evening. The subject of taxes racked up 17% of Tweets; 16% focused on foreign policy, 13% on energy and the environment, and 8% on immigration.

We saw several surprising trends and buzzwords emerge too. The terms “binder” and “pension” rose to Twitter infamy tonight, and we suspect “Jeremy” (a young questioner, soon to graduate from college) will be popular in class tomorrow. As we’ve come to expect, such trending topics inspire parody accounts almost instantly:

Boy, I'm full of women! #debates
— Romney's Binder (@RomneysBinder) October 17, 2012

As we’ve seen in the previous two debates, the performance of the moderator was another popular topic. CNN’s Candy Crowley (@CrowleyCNN) generated her share of commentary:

Make no mistake. What Candy Crowley is doing right now is HARD work. She almost needs a gavel
— Michele Norris (@michele_norris) October 17, 2012

Crowley decided POTUS deserved 10% more time - Final speaking time per @cnn: 44:04 for Obama; Romney 40:50. #debates
— Karl Rove (@KarlRove) October 17, 2012

Since both candidates are trying to convince voters that they respect women, they might start by respecting Candy Crowley
— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) October 17, 2012

The debate ended with emotional (albeit slightly biased!) responses from the people closest to the candidates: their families.

Another great debate dad. More likeable, right on the issues. Drove home that Obama's rhetoric doesn't match his record.
— Tagg Romney (@tromney) October 17, 2012

I'm so proud of my husband tonight. Let's have his back as he has had ours. –mo #TeamBarack
— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) October 17, 2012

In just six days, we’ll be in Boca Raton for the final debate of this campaign. See you then.

Posted by Adam Sharp (@AdamS)
Head of Government, News, & Social Innovation