Twitter launched a billboard campaign to show how it is connected to the world's biggest issues

Twitter launched a billboard campaign in New York City this week that aims to show how the platform is connected to the world's biggest issues.

One of Twitter's biggest problems is that, while its power users log into the site every day and provide the bulk of its content, many regular people can't work out why the platform is relevant to them.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said in September that Twitter is "the place to see what's happening" - whether that's big world issues, niche topics, or simply what people's immediate communities are doing at that moment in time. These billboards highlight the first of those use cases.

The simple ad displays show single images - portraying guns, transgender issues, the melting of the polar ice caps, Vladimir Putin, the Pride flag, and more - overlaid with the Twitter logo and the hashtag symbol now synonymous with the platform.

The campaign builds on a billboard Twitter erected a few weeks ago near the Lincoln Tunnel in New York, which featured close-up shots of Hillary Clinton's and Donald Trump's eyes.

Writing in a blog post, Twitter's first global group creative director, Jayanta Jenkins, who joined the company in August, explained how the campaign is all part of the company's efforts to help people understand what the platform is used for.

Jenkins said: "This campaign highlights the top issues being discussed on Twitter - it reflects different sides and doesn't take sides. As they always do on Twitter, people will bring their own point of view to the images that can be seen today around NYC."

Speaking to Adweek, Jenkins said out-of-home was the best medium to convey this message.

He said: "Just think of all the brands that have used out-of-home in a really powerful way at big moments for those brands. Think about Apple when they did the 'Think Different' work. I think the out-of-home medium is a really beautiful and powerful way to humanize tech brands. Out-of-home, for us, is a great way to get people to look up, off their devices, and remind them of the conversation that's happening on Twitter. You can use less to say more."

Twitter also plans to extend the campaign, which was created in-house, to billboard sites in Los Angeles and San Francisco.