• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, October 17, 2014

Coming up with creative ways to increase engagement, Twitter has tapped SoundCloud to help users discover and listen to audio directly in their timelines.

Earlier this year, the social giant considered acquiring the popular Berlin-based sound-sharing community -- often referred to as the “YouTube of audio” -- but backed out over what were reported to be pricing concerns.

Twitter says the new audio effort is bigger than SoundCloud and any other third-party partner. “We’re launching this new [service] in partnership with third-party streaming services,” Richard Slatter, a product manager at Twitter, noted in a Thursday blog post. “The first partner … is SoundCloud.”

Now, with a single tap, users can find and play tracks directly from their iOS and Android mobile devices. So as not to stall their broader Twitter experience, users can “dock” the audio “card” -- another name for a mobile application -- and keep listening as they continue to browse through their timelines. 

The partnership remains highly experimental, according to Slatter. “We’re just beginning to test the Audio Card,” he said. Appealing to advertisers’ desire to see users stick around, Twitter is testing various ways to hold their attention. 

Along with SoundCloud, Twitter reportedly took a serious look at Spotify and Pandora.

This summer, Twitter agreed to buy SnappyTV, which powers a popular platform for the live-clipping, editing and distribution of video across the Web.

In late 2012, Twitter grabbed music discovery start-up We Are Hunted, which it later used to launch its own music service, Twitter Music. Because of a lukewarm response, however, Twitter announced plans to shelve the service back in March.

Despite its engagement challenges, Twitter is enjoying surging ad revenue and better-than-expected user growth.