The run-up to the US presidential election set for later this year has produced a marked change in the way that politicians reach out to potential voters. With traditional marketing strategies such as television campaigns being eschewed in favour of more modern techniques, social media is really coming into its own.

Twitter is making it easier for advertisers to build, test and optimise their campaigns at scale with the arrival of a new ad groups level for its Ads editor. The updated campaign structure has rolled out to marketers globally and is the latest addition aimed at streamlining the budgeting process and enabling brands to target different audiences.

Twitter is launching a First View feature that will allow marketers to place a video advert at the top of every user’s timeline for 24 hours. The new feature is part of a major overhaul for the social media site that will also see the introduction of prioritised tweets ahead of the current reverse chronological order.

Tech site BuzzFeed has set the Twittersphere alight with claims that the social media site is set to introduce a new Facebook-style algorithmic feed next week. The shift away from the current reverse chronological model will filter out what users will see when they log in, which is likely to impact how individuals connect with each other.

The short, sharp content offered by tweets, which are limited to 140 characters, is part of what has made Twitter a phenomenon, but it now looks as though the social media platform is going to extend that limit - and then some.

Twitter revealed plans for new-look “Tweet” buttons a few months ago, but some of the intended changes weren't quite clear at the time.

Last February, tech giants Twitter and Google announced that they had come to an arrangement that meant tweets would soon be indexed in Google search results.

Twitter may be experiencing a slump in its share price, but the company is busy developing features that it hopes will attract new users and keep present users firmly on board.

The shift from traditional to online news sources continues apace, with research conducted by US-based think tank The Pew Research Centre indicating that Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly popular among those searching for the latest headlines. The report, published on 14th July, covers US respondents only, but it does give an interesting insight into news consumption trends, given the sheer size and scale of the US market.

As a deal between Google and Twitter takes effect, Google has started to index a greater percentage of tweets, according to research carried out by Stone Temple Consulting.