Twitter Is Inviting Users to Become ‘Twitter Insiders’ to Help Brands

Twitter has retained a research firm to support a new program called Twitter Insiders, Motherboard learned earlier today, which is described as an "exclusive community" where these select users will play a "leading role in making the platform better for brands"—not Twitter itself, mind, but how brands use Twitter to reach me, you, and all 310 million of the service's monthly active users.

I received an invitation to join this secret society earlier today, after noticing a tweet in my personal timeline asking if I was interested. Of course I said yes.

Twitter pitches Insiders as being a community where you're able to share "thought-provoking discussions with like-minded people" and "debate… how you use Twitter services like Periscope, Vine, & Moments," the curated tweets featured that launched in October 2015.

Upon signing up to become an Insider, you're immediately asked our occupation and to tick a few boxes signifying your interests. I selected autos, business, gaming, pets, science, and tech & computing. I was then asked if I own any cars. Being a New York City resident, I do not. (Weirdly, when I left this question blank, because I don't own a car, I was told I answered incorrectly because I left the question blank. I ended up selecting Other, and hope Twitter fixes this question in the future.) Twitter rounds out this initial questionnaire by asking my highest level of education, household income, employment status, my ethnicity, and whether or not I have any children.

What's behind the velvet rope? It appears to be a kind of message board where Insiders are asked about recent Twitter decisions, including last month's decision to reclassify the app in the App Store as a News App inside of a Social Networking App, and Twitter's decision to no longer count photos and links against a tweet's 140 characters.

Two polls located inside Twitter Insiders. Screenshot: Nicholas Deleon/Motherboard

There's also a section where Insiders can create polls asking fellow Insiders their opinions on a variety of topics, including what you'll do if Donald Trump becomes president (choices include "celebrate," "move to Canada," and "kill yourself") and what's your favorite pro-wrestling promotion (choices include WWE, "TNT," which I think they meant "TNA," NXT, and PWG—no love for Ring of Honor and New Japan, both of which are home to loyal Motherboard reader Matt Sydal).

This is Twitter Insiders' US debut, having first appeared in the UK two years ago.

Companies like Twitter frequently perform this kind of research, of course, but not everybody's stock price is down more than 57 percent in the past year, as Twitter's is, with questions being asked of company leadership and whether or not Twitter might be better served being part of a bigger company.

In the meantime, I look forward to helping shape the future direction of Twitter from the comfort of my own computer.

Update: June 6, 7:45pm ET: The headline and opening paragraph of this story were updated to stress that Twitter Insiders is intended to help brands on the platform, and not Twitter itself.