Following in the footsteps of Facebook Stories and Google Stories comes -- you guessed it -- Twitter Stories, a new marketing initiative by Twitter that aims to showcase interesting uses of the social media service.
Twitter Stories, which you can see here, is not to be confused with Twitter Tales, another outreach effort that debuted last year with the mission to present "a series of quirky and inspiring articles" (seven, in total) based on users' answers to the question, "How do you use Twitter?" Though the basic goal of the two sites seems identical, Twitter Stories offers up a fresh list of anecdotes. Among the tales, there are stories about a man who found a kidney donor after tweeting, "Sh*t, I need a kidney"; Chad Ochocinco taking his Twitter followers out for dinner; and Japanese fishermen who sell the day's catch via Twitter before they've even returned to shore.
Perhaps in an attempt to woo a more mainstream audience, Twitter has notably chosen to highlight several well-known celebrities and brands in the stories it picked, including Roger Ebert, Ochocinco, Queen Rania Al Abdullah, and Burberry.
"Each story reminds us of the humanity behind Tweets that make the world smaller," Twitter wrote on its blog.
That theme echoes Facebook's own introduction to Facebook Stories, which reads, "Facebook is all about the individual and collective experiences of you and your friends. It's filled with hundreds of millions of stories."
Users can submit their own stories by tweeting at @TwitterStories or including the hashtag #TwitterStories in their tweets.
A few tales have already trickled in.
"In the past year, a job, an apartment, and the amazing man in my life have all come from Twitter. #TwitterStories," tweeted @JessicaLawrence.
See one of the Twitter Stories videos below, then tell us: What do think of the idea? Will Twitter get people to contribute?