Twitter Confirms That it’s Engaged on an Edit Button, Following Tweets from New Board Member Elon Musk

Are you prepared for an edit choice to your tweets?

After years of it being essentially the most requested tweet improve, and repeated rebuffs from Twitter itself, together with numerous justifications for why it could possibly’t occur, evidently Elon Musk is trying to make use of his newfound sway as the company’s biggest shareholder (and newest board member) to make tweet modifying a actuality.

As you’ll be able to see, practically 4 million folks have voted in Musk’s ballot, with 73.5% of them in favor of an edit choice.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal additionally advised that it could effectively develop into a actuality, with this callback to Musk’s own tweet on how Twitter is being run.

In reality, Twitter really famous late final week that it’s engaged on an edit button.

Although the particular date noticed it dismissed as a joke – however in accordance with Twitter’s Michael Sayman, one other new voice at the company, possibly not.

That’s nonetheless considerably unclear, however the accumulation of all of those parts does appear to recommend that Twitter is no less than exploring an edit choice as soon as once more, which might effectively be launched quickly, making each Agrawal and Musk seem like saviors for the post-Jack Dorsey period of the app.

As famous, Twitter has lengthy resisted requires an edit button, with Dorsey citing concerns round customers altering retweeted messages after the actual fact, whereas additionally suggesting that the extra concise nature of tweets leaves them much more inclined to refined edits that may very well be problematic in numerous methods.

In reality, in early 2020, Dorsey pretty much killed off any hopes of an edit option ever making it to the stay atmosphere – although that was earlier than Twitter added an ‘Undo’ option for paying Twitter Blue subscribers which, in some methods, offers the closest it appeared we’d get to a type of tweet clarification.

I imply, it’s not modifying. Deleting and re-sharing an up to date tweet is just about what you are able to do already. However given Dorsey’s earlier statements on the potential of an edit choice, within a short window after posting, it appeared like this was it, and would solely be out there for those who paid up.

However Dorsey has moved on, gone off into the world of crypto evangelism, whereas Musk has moved in, bringing with him his seemingly insatiable want for consideration and adoration. Inside that, tweet modifying now does appear very very like a possible actuality – although as with each Twitter replace, I might additionally warning towards pinning an excessive amount of hope on it being the factor that can remedy all of your tweet considerations, and convey concord to the app.

Spoiler alert: It gained’t.

That’s to not say it gained’t be a helpful addition, however I really feel like most Twitter adjustments get blown massively out of proportion, just for curiosity to die down inside a number of days, as per the good Twitter Circle of Life.

Longer tweets was a disaster, until per week later when it wasn’t. Audio tweets had celebrities sharing like mad – for about two days in whole. Altering stars to hearts was the demise knell for the app, whereas Fleets was an annoyance for, what, a matter of hours?

As with each Twitter pattern, it’s the most important, most vital, most important factor on the planet at the moment, on which everybody looks like they need to share a novel take (word: typically not distinctive). After which it isn’t. Identical to that.

I think tweet modifying would be the similar, a sudden spike within the Google Traits chart for mentions of ‘edit button’, recorded for all posterity within the web’s good reminiscence. Then nobody will care anymore.

We’ll use it, certain, it’ll be okay. However in a lot the identical manner that Clubhouse’s early invite-only method helped to juice its hype cycle, the one actual purpose folks care a lot about tweet modifying is as a result of Twitter has denied it to them. If it had been inbuilt from the beginning, it might be a nothing course of, the identical as it’s on Instagram, Fb, and many others. However absence has made the hearts of Twitter customers develop extra demanding – however in actuality, as soon as it’s right here, it’ll solely be a novelty for a matter of hours for every person.

However it may very well be a PR winner – and once more, everyone knows that Elon is eager to be the best billionaire in historical past, wielding a flame thrower in a single hand and a ticket to Mars on the opposite.

Cyber vans are cool, proper? And memes and courting musicians and happening fashionable podcasts. Elon Musk very clearly needs the standing, and with billions to throw into such, he could effectively have sufficient to make tweet modifying a actuality.

Surprise if he sees the $3 billion he spend on Twitter inventory as being important in his efforts to keep away from taxes ‘preserve the light of consciousness’?

UPDATE: Twitter has now confirmed that it’s engaged on an edit button, although it says that Musk’s involvement had nothing to do with the challenge.

Twitter says that it’s going to start testing the edit button with Twitter Blue subscribers ‘within the coming months’.