Attention all Twitter users! Here’s something new for you all, but not really something new for Twitter itself. Last week, a couple of Twitter users in the US began seeing a new option to add a voice note to their DMs. So while Twitter might not be as big about audio social now, it’s still aware enough to at least try and get into the new trend of transitioning more towards messaging interactions.
Twitter Voice Memos
Again, this isn’t something new for Twitter. In fact, Twitter first began testing the option back in 2020, then launched it to users in India, Brazil, and Japan in 2021. Now, more regions are getting access, providing another connective consideration in the app. So it’s somewhat new, but not really, if that makes sense. Thus far, such is the sentiment for all Twitter 2.0 releases. Not the best connotation, but at least it’s ‘unique’.
True enough, in the first 6 months under Elon Musk’s leadership, Twitter has ramped up its roll-out schedule, and provided users with a range of new functionalities and options – but the vast majority of them were actually in testing long before Musk even contemplated taking over.
To be exact:
Community Notes, which has become Elon’s key weapon in fighting misinformation, has been in development since 2021, under its previous name ‘Birdwatch’.
Creator subscriptions is a reformation of ‘Super Follows’ which Twitter initially released in 2021.
Long-form Tweets is a reformation of ‘Notes’, Twitter’s in-app blogging option that it first began testing in February 2022.
Twitter’s working on encrypted DMs, which Twitter began work on in 2018.
Elon made a big deal about the introduction of ads linked to keywords, which Twitter first released in 2013 (before depreciating it because it wasn’t effective).
Twitter view counts, which are now displayed on tweets, have been available in the tweet details view since 2015.
The new Twitter Blue text formatting features have actually been possible in tweets since forever, as Twitter supports Unicode functionality.
So while Twitter is launching a lot of seemingly new things, there isn’t really much that wasn’t already in development before Musk became the new Chief Twit.
The Wrap
True enough, the only other changes, aside from its chaotic verification updates, are minor UI tweaks, while Musk’s various claims around policing elements like child exploitation and spam are questionable, according to expert analyses. Still, Twitter is putting more options out there, which could be enough to make people think that it’s doing more work now than when it had way more staff. Although the notion is quite the opposite, the perception will help improve Twitter’s standing, at least in some respects.
Please note:
This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin.
Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
