Finally, it's happening: Twitter's 'edit' function. And nah, it has nothing to do with the much ballyhooed poll conducted by Elon Musk, who is the last two days has picked close to 10% stake in Twitter Inc and also has been inducted into its board.
But first things first. In an official tweet, Twitter said it has indeed been working on an 'edit' feature since last year. It will test the feature in its paid service, Twitter Blue, in the coming months.
"We're kicking off testing within @TwitterBlue Labs in the coming months to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible."
Coming, but it'll take time
1/ We’ve been exploring how to build an Edit feature in a safe manner since last year and plan to begin testing it within @TwitterBlue Labs in the coming months. Sharing a few more insights on how we’re thinking about Edit 🧵 https://t.co/WbcfkUue8eApril 5, 2022
In an elaborate Twitter thread, Jay Sullivan, Head of Product at Twitter, said the company has been exploring how to build the Edit feature in a safe manner.
"Edit has been the most requested Twitter feature for many years. People want to be able to fix (sometimes embarrassing) mistakes, typos and hot takes in the moment. They currently work around this by deleting and tweeting again," he said.
But things are not that simple as correcting a silly typo or some other innocuous mistake, as Twitter is also now an official communication tool for governments, corporates and celebrities. In the event, to allow alteration of what has been said has deep and long-standing impact. It is something that Twitter is quite aware of. As Sullivan said: "Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation. Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work."
Twitter had pussyfooted around this thorny issue for long. But even though it it has now decided to bite the bullet, it does not want to hasten things. Sullivan said it will take time and "we will be actively seeking input and adversarial thinking in advance of launching Edit. We will approach this feature with care and thoughtfulness and we will share updates as we go." So it seems the edit function will take time before it is mainstreamed.
For the record, Twitter Blue allows its subscribers the option to totally 'undo' an tweet after it has been sent. But that is not equivalent to the edit feature.
Twitter users have been asking for the option to edit tweets ever since the platform launched in 2006, but the company has always prevaricated on it. However, two years back, its then CEO Jack Dorsey, in response to a question on whether the site will introduce an 'edit' option, said: "The answer is no." So many thought that the issue was closed. But now things seem to have changed.
