The intentions for this experiment are probably to help increase engagement. One could even argue that for content Twitter deems to be "breaking news," putting important tweets from the accounts a person's Twitter friends follow.
In January, Google bought Nest for $3.2 billion, demonstrating that the tech giant was keen on colonizing smart homes, much like how it colonized smartphones with the much-cheaper Android acquisition in 2005. In its World.
Hawkinson's timing was good. Although home automation has been around for decades, it's still far from mainstream. At the same time that SmartThings launched, Nest Labs, a "smart thermostat" created by former Apple engineers.
