Twitter has announced new functionality allowing users to preview content, view images and play videos from media partners within their timelines.

Writing on the Twitter blog, product team director Michael Sippey explained: "You've probably expanded tweets before to play videos from YouTube or see photos from Instagram. Now, a diverse and growing group of new partners like The Wall Street Journal, Breaking News and TIME also deliver rich content inside tweets containing a link to those websites."

On clicking a tweet containing a partner link, Sippey adds: "You can see a preview with the headline, the introduction and sometimes the Twitter accounts of the publisher and writer."

Digital Spy editor David Moynihan commented: "This is a really exciting development considering how many people consume news through Twitter. Our developers have added the required code to DS and we hope to be selected as a partner."

The microblogging platform recently unveiled tailored trends and a redesigned logo.