After much anticipation, Twitter, today, has finally launched the first stage of live testing for what is, by far, the most-requested Social Media platform addition of all time – Tweet editing. Edited Tweets will include a note at the bottom, saying that it has been edited. All users can access the Tweet edit history by tapping on the pencil icon, which should help reduce some of the concerns around potential misuse – though many are already sounding the alarm about the possible damages Tweet revisions can cause.
Twedit
So how does it all work? At first, Twitter said that it was launching a test with internal staff first, before expanding the test pool to Twitter Blue subscribers over the next coming weeks. As per Twitter:
“For this test, Tweets will be able to be edited a few times in the 30 minutes following their publication. Edited Tweets will appear with an icon, timestamp, and label so it’s clear to readers that the original Tweet has been modified. Tapping the label will take viewers to the Tweet’s Edit History, which includes past versions of the Tweet.”
It seems that Tweet editing does have a limit, which aligns with an earlier proposal that former CEO Jack Dorsey outlined back in 2016. Afterward, Jack and his team repeatedly closed the curtain on the idea, saying that it would never happen. I guess the surprise is on Jack this time.
This is what we have so far with regards to the full edit details:
Tweets will be editable within the first 30 minutes following their publication. This is designed to limit the capacity for people to update viral tweets in retrospect because you won’t know just how much reach a tweet will eventually get within the first half hour.
Tweet edits will be publicly accessible via the tweet history, which will list all previous versions of the tweet, and detail on when the edits occurred.
Users will be able to edit text, images, and video in a tweet, as well as alt-text info.
While it will first be launched to Twitter Blue subscribers only, all users will eventually be able to access the option, free of charge.
That basically concludes it – the long-awaited Tweet editing option is finally here! Or, at least it’s coming if you don’t want to shell out the extra $4.99 for a monthly Blue subscription. It looks to be a handy addition, though we doubt it’ll be a game changer. However, the current exclusivity of such an anticipated feature could help Blue’s revenue jump, just so users could immediately try it out. Perhaps part of Twitter’s logic is to keep it within Blue to generate more interest in the offer while keeping the test pool small will allow it to more easily perform quality checks and debugs to ensure that there are no problems when they release it to the whole platform.
The Wrap
Of course, no good thing is without drawbacks – others have already identified possible misuses of the option, including the insertion of phishing links into viral Tweets, as well as seeding political messaging into already amplified messages. However, it’s not yet glaringly obvious if this would be a major issue or not. First, because of the 30-minute edit window, and second, because of the cycle of extreme hype for the first few weeks, then becoming commonplace quickly after – as has been the nature of most new things introduced on Twitter.
For now, we’ll simply have to wait and see. Meanwhile, Twitter also notes that the option could help to ‘take some of the pressure off Tweeting, especially for people who don’t Tweet as often’. In short, just edit a Tweet if you’re too lazy to compose a new one.
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