Twitter has added another search bar, but this time within its ‘Settings and Privacy’ section, making it easy for users to find what they’re looking to update in the app. Just like with most search options, the bar’s placement is atop the Settings and Privacy section. Besides location, there’s also a new search prompt that highlights relevant sections and options based on keywords in your query, quite similar to the ‘Control F’ keyword highlight on computers.
Look Up High
Of course, to perform optimized searches, you must also have an inkling as to the particular section that you’re looking for. For example, if you wanted to prevent people from @mentioning you, then it’s likely that you entered the word ‘Mentions’ as your query term. In this case, the search prompt would not be able to provide you with what you’re looking for because the associated function is actually ‘Audience and Tagging’. Likewise, you can also search ‘Safety Mode’ to set your mention controls.
That’s really the only limitation the option has, but it’s potentially a deal-breaking one since what’s after here is the provision of an easier search. But as noted, Twitter has always been challenged in supplying efficient discovery. However, the new search at least makes it easier for users to find most of the necessary features, albeit excluding more specific controls such as the one mentioned in the example above.
Let’s not discredit Twitter totally though. Since it’s a new implementation, there are bound to be a few things that would need ironing out. Nothing is ever flawless upon release, and such will always be the nature of development since only time and exposure will reveal what needs to be improved. We can allow Twitter a bit of leeway since it’s currently exploring a lot of uncharted territories to meet highly ambitious goals.
Since the platform is also under new leadership, it could be that its approach to certain fronts will be different, experimenting with new functionality and responding to user feedback in ways that it had not previously. That would certainly open up a couple of opportunities for Twitter, if not provide it with a load of useful insight that it can later tap into to fuel future pushes. Besides, a new search option is better than no search option; it’s heaps more useful than an outdated and unoptimized one too.
The Wrap
It’s a simple update, yet a potentially effective one, especially for those on mobile. Twitter is more optimized for mobile use anyway, making the addition a logical one, adding even more convenience for users to easily make the changes that they would need to maximize their Twitter experience. Given that it’s better to have a faster option to look up settings and functions when on the go, this is a good time for Twitter to essentially ‘field-test’ their new settings search, providing it with an important benchmark on which it can gauge future updates and tweaks.
The new search bar is available to all Twitter users on all versions of the app and is currently in rollout.
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