After a month of experimentation, Twitter has officially launched Twitter Polls, a user-driven polling function. Beginning today, any user can use the new feature to poll their followers with yes/no type questions.

In a public announcement, Twitter’s Product Manager, Todd Sherman, explained how Twitter Polls works:

Previously, we’ve offered a few ways to participate in polls — Tweeting questions and tracking replies, tallying hashtag votes, or asking followers to favorite or Retweet to vote. Now, you’ll be able to create your own two-choice poll right from the compose box and it will remain live for 24 hours. You can vote on any poll, and how you voted is not shared publicly. When the poll closes, we’ll send a push notification to everyone who participated to check out the final results.

Following Twitter Moments, Polls is the next step in making Twitter more available to the masses of social media users. Sherman’s statement shows that the new feature operates on two principles, namely, the guarantee of privacy and the increased interactivity between users. A guarantee of privacy alleviates possible user fear that polling information will be used against him. In addition, Twitter’s promise that it will send result notifications to everyone who participated in any given poll once the 24 hour window closes encourages users to constantly check their accounts.

This maneuver typifies Twitter’s continual efforts to drive more consistent traffic to the site. The strategy could very well work. After all, who doesn’t like seeing a funny poll?

See TechCrunch for more.