One of the features most desired by Twitter users is about to be implemented: the edit post button was finally confirmed by the platform earlier this month. The feature that allows users to change previously published tweets, has been under development since last year, and will be available, at first, to users of Twitter Blue – the subscription version of the microblog – for the test phase.
After years of debates, ideological wars on this topic, and appeals from celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian asking for the post editing feature, Twitter decided to give in to the public’s requests. But contrary to what has been widely speculated, this feature has nothing to do with the Twitter poll by freedom of speech critic, Elon Musk. The platform made it very clear that “We didn’t take this from a poll”, referencing a post by the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX on the social network.
now that everyone is asking…
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022
yes, we’ve been working on an edit feature since last year!
no, we didn’t get the idea from a poll 😉
we're kicking off testing within @TwitterBlue Labs in the coming months to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible.
This decision shows a new phase for the company, which, after the departure of Jack Dorsey, former CEO of the platform, opens up to adapting the social network based on user feedback. This post editing feature has been around for a while on some other platforms like Facebook and Slack and is already one of the most awaited features by the Twitter audience.
However, what may sound like an achievement for most users of the social network, can become a reason for concern and caution, especially with regard to misinformation, harassment and possible crimes of offense committed on the bird’s social network.
How to use the Edit Tweets button without losing everything
When it comes to using the edit Tweets button on a daily basis on the social network, it’s easy to find opinions both in favor and definitely against this new feature. Serious doubts exist around how to manage this edited information without jeopardizing the credibility of content creators and companies that work with Twitter. This must be analyzed and thought out in such a way that this new tool does not promote chaos and a sense of insecurity for users from the web.
After all, Twitter is known for being a platform where people have the freedom to write what they think quickly and practically. This often leads to the mass sharing of disinformation far more quickly, and fake news being spread across the timeline of Twitter users.
Therefore, editing Tweets makes room for the discussion of online harassment on the network, which can be easily edited after reaching the target people and generating revolt in users.
But getting away from this problem, editing tweets can be an incredible resource for those who create content on the social network. After all, it is very easy to make a typo or upload an incorrect file when launching a campaign.
And the solution we have today to fix this is to delete the tweet, which becomes a problem when this tweet has already been engaged and has already been viewed by thousands of users. In these cases, editing comes in as a savior tool for brands that need a simple correction option instead of deleting a tweet altogether.
So, Twitter needs to analyze this well and test all the UX possibilities of how this feature can be inserted into the social network so that it works in an effective and informative way. Thus, fulfilling the main objective and minimizing the possibilities of generating more problems for the company through this new feature.
