Twitter’s new Audio Card feature lets you stream music as you explore your timeline

Twitter announced Thursday it’s partnered with Apple and SoundCloud to introduce a new Audio Card feature for iOS and Android that lets users listen to music tracks while they continue to explore their Twitter timeline.

The microblogging site is already used by many musicians and singers to
promote their work and engage with fans, so this latest addition to the service is likely to be welcomed by both parties. For Twitter, it’s another move toward widening the variety of content available to users as it continues its steady transformation into more of a multimedia experience than one based more around text.

The Audio Cards are easy to use – if you’re following an artist who’s on iTunes or SoundCloud, they’re going to start tweeting links to tracks on one or both of these services. Tap on the link in the tweet and a card will appear as the audio kicks in. To continue using Twitter while listening to the audio, simply swipe the card down to the bottom right of the display. You can enlarge it at any time – to stop the track or skip through it, or purchase it (via iTunes) – with a single tap on the miniaturized card in the bottom right.

Other audio content such as podcasts is also available through the new feature, and Twitter plans to link up with more services besides iTunes and SoundCloud in the near future.

While more than 50 SoundCloud partners (Coldplay, David Guetta, ThatKevinSmith, and NASA among them) already have the green light to post audio links via Twitter, the partnership with Apple and iTunes is clearly in the very early stages, with only the Foo Fighters currently part of the service. Expect many more artists and media outlets to be added soon.