Twitter is testing a new polling feature that lets users conduct quick surveys.
The new polling feature was publicly showcased by Twitter CFO Anthony Noto on Thursday, who tweeted the simple query: Boxers or Briefs? Alongside each under-garment option was a check box for users to select. (Some people initially thought Noto's tweet was a mistake, given his history of mistakenly tweeting direct messages).
A Twitter spokesperson told Business Insider that the company is "experimenting with a new way to poll users on Twitter," but provided no further details.
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The idea for a polling feature was suggested by one of Twitter's loudest outside critics, early investor Chris Sacca, who called for the feature among a long list of product improvements in a lengthy blog post earlier this year.
The polling feature does not currently appear to be broadly available. Reporters at Business Insider were unable to create polls using Twitter. Though Fred Wilson, one of Twitter's early backers, tweeted that he was easily able to create a poll. "I went to the tweet field on twitter's web clients, selected poll, and wrote the tweet," Wilson said in a tweet.
Besides creating new ways for consumers to use Twitter, the polls could also help Twitter build up profiles of users preferences, which the company could potentially use to improve its ad targeting. As users participate in a growing number of polls, Twitter could learn everything about their choice of underwear to their favorite sports teams.
According to a person familiar with the matter though, Twitter does not currently have any plans to use poll data to inform its ad targeting.
