Embarrassing typos are the woes that follow any prolific tweeter when the slightest bit of distraction creeps in before sending a tweet on Twitter. As a victim myself, I have lost track of the number of times I have prayed for an edit button to revise a humiliating typo that I took notice of only after a moment too late. As a phenomenon that probably all Twitter users can empathize with, Twitter developers have finally decided to relax their rigid stance of editing Twitter posts.
Yes, it is really happening! Twitter is working on an edit option! Here’s everything we have gathered about the new feature.
Edit button is an experimental feature that is under development in the Twitter Labs to bring to the table the much-requested edit option to its users. Whether there should be an option to edit a tweet after sending it is a topic with polarized opinions. The stalwarts of immutable tweets advocate that tweets remain unchangeable to deny any user the opportunity to re-word any opinion they previously shared after it explodes on the platform. Until now, Twitter also stood firm by its opinion to make users take responsibility for the words and comments they choose to send out.
These thoughts inform us that the ‘editability’ of a tweet entails concerns that are much deeper than correcting typos. Liberal and uncensored access to the feature could allow a user to revise an originally controversial tweet into an unsuspecting one to hide their miscreant attributes.
However, a good majority of its users wish for the edit feature on the simpler, innocuous ground as correcting spelling mistakes that escape one’s notice before sending the tweet out. Things didn’t look too promising for the advocates of edit feature on TikTok until the CEO seat of Twitter was recently officially handed over to Parag Agarwal. Guess we can see it as part of the reforms that inevitably follow new regimes. Add to the mix the innovative brains like Elon Musk who constantly challenges restrictions and boundaries, the edit feature was more of a matter of when than if.
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Is the ‘edit’ feature on Twitter confirmed?
On April 1st, 2022, Twitter Communications’ (official account) had posted what seemed to a prank about an editing button that is in the workshop.
we are working on an edit button
— Twitter (@Twitter) April 1, 2022
However, they followed up the tweet addressing the hot question to confirm that an edit button is indeed a project in progress and expected to be rolled out soon to the privileged group of subscribed users of the app. A lot is still tentative about its attributes considering the explosive magnitude of disapproval towards the feature in itself. The official word is that the developers have been more than toying with the edit button for over a year, experimenting with many nuances to generate a design and functioning that would satisfy both the advocates and protesters. For instance, Twitter has built its long-standing reputation on the very essence of the rawness of tweets. Twitter spats are so common especially because of how uncensored and unchangeable the tweets are once you tweet them.
now that everyone is asking…
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.
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022
So, what works and what doesn’t are up for further and deeper analysis based on the data collected on user experience and behavior with the feature in the Twitter Blue Labs.
Did Elon Musk’s poll make the Edit feature happen?
Elon Musk was recently officially announced as one of the directors of the Twitter Board. Hours before news broke of the appointment of Elon Musk to the role, Parag Agarwal had already given a significant indicator along with Musk regarding the possibility of adding an edit button to Twitter.
On April 5th, Musk had started a Twitter poll asking to vote for or against adding an edit button to the tweeting option, a tweet that was soon retweeted by the Twitter CEO himself declaring the gravity of the poll results on their decision-making process.
The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully. https://t.co/UDJIvznALB
— Parag Agrawal (@paraga) April 5, 2022
24 hours later, based on the votes cast by a whopping 4,406,764 participants in total showed that 73.6% of the users want an edit button on TikTok. The yays outnumbered the nays with a resounding 47% lead. Now, if that isn’t a loud opinion, then what is?
Elon associates the idea of editing tweets with freedom of expression in a separate tweet, making clear his stance on the topic. The ability to edit, if not administered with caution, could completely overthrow the fundamental Twitter principle of everyone being accountable for their own words (no takebacks allowed). If we consider the consequences of adding an edit option to Twitter, the most conspicuous flag raised is related to the potential for misuse of the feature to initiate cyberbullying. So, in order to not make it a loose cannon, the devs have decided to grind it through the layers of a small group of users to take a gander at its true potential and drawbacks.
How long has Twitter been working on the Edit feature?
Even though Twitter Communications and Elon Musk’s tweets indicated that the edit feature is something of an idea in its incipient stage, the former clarified in the latest tweet that the recent teaser tweets were not to be discarded as a matter of temporary focus but something the Twitter team has been working ‘since a year ago’.
So, no, it was the outcome of the trending Elon Musk poll on the subject, nor was it something that started as an April Fool’s prank. The edits feature has been sizzling in the Twitter Labs for quite a while now, and apparently, it is ready enough to be made widely known and even rolled out to a target group for testing.
How does Twitter’s Edit feature work?
Even though the devs have given a teaser about the upcoming feature, they are yet to divulge more details about how it works. But the particulars are probably not yet decided to give a detailed outline as the developers hope to gather more data related to user experience to decide what to be and not to be incorporated into the feature. As we already discussed, the possibility of misusing the feature to efface the entirety of a tweet is too disagreeable, while the rising demand for an edit button to revise typos stand at odds with it at once.
Based on the little teaser bite granted by Twitter Communications, we can expect it to be one of the options available under the ellipsis button of the sent tweets.
👀 pic.twitter.com/I13wE3eLdn
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022
Users have been flooding the comments with suggestions to make the best use of the edit button while preserving the original ‘raw’ attribute of sent tweets, like establishing cut-off on lifespan on the edit button on every tweet you send to a few short minutes or adding an Edit label to indicate that it has been revised before.
User suggestions are enlightening and brimming with potential if explored carefully. Like setting a time limit for the feature, for instance. Let’s consider a scenario to analyze how that idea might work. Suppose you sent a post, but you notice a few typos sticking out like an eyesore from it; it’d be convenient if there is an edit button to fix those typos quickly and imperceptibly. However, if your tweet explodes a while later for some reason scandalous or offensive, you will not be able to edit it as the feature itself vanished just a few short minutes after uploading.
What is Twitter blue? Why does it get the Edit feature first?
We hate to break it to you, but, if you are an unpaid user of the bird app (like the rest and most of us), then you might not get to taste the benefits of the edit option anytime soon. Wondering why?
It is because Twitter has made it clear that the edit option is ready to be rolled out to a limited user base within the next few months and they are none other than the subscribed users of Twitter Blue. Twitter Blue is that side of Twitter that gives users exclusive privileges and tools for a monthly subscription. One of the exclusive perks of subscribing to Twitter Blues is the access to limited, new features that are still under tweaking or conceptualization.
Naturally, the paid users get the privilege to enjoy the features before the rest of the masses. However, that is not the only reason! The idea of adding an edit button is solid and confirmed, however, its applications and uses are up in the air. It is not yet decided just what exactly comes along with the edit option — can you edit any tweet you send anytime in any way? These are serious questions that need to be approached from various angles to get a workable answer.
Here enter the testers — The Twitter Blue subscribers — who will act as the observation group to gather relevant information regarding what is expected of the feature and how to deliver a product close to the expectations without compromising on the dogmas that the app built its characteristics and reputation. The devs have announced that the feature is ready to go online and will be released for exclusive access to the Twitter Blue users anytime within the next few months.
Will Twitter Edit feature come to all?
We can assume that Twitter will roll out the feature to the public at some point in the future, although no date is on the charts yet to set your sights on. The Edit feature is expected to hit Twitter Blue Labs shortly which is declared to be the real window for feature development and solidification according to the developers. Once they have arrived at a more complete as compact version as possible, Twitter Edit might finally break the boundaries to reach all Twitter users.
When will the edit feature launch for the public on Twitter?
When is a very tentative subject when we talk about the Twitter edit feature considering its nascence and the room for development. For starters, the developers need to address common concerns like what happens to the value of answerability if tweets become editable. At the same time, they need to find a middle ground to appease the popular demand for an edit button as a chance to fix embarrassing typing accidents.
When the edit feature will reach the common and the privileged without differences is a matter of how fast they shape its attributes and how effective the results are. Although the edit button might remain an elite feature for quite a while, there is hope that it will also come to regular users in the not-so-distant future. Will it be next month? In six months? Or the next year? Your guess is as good as anybody’s, really!
Don’t have the edit button on Twitter? Worry not, because nobody does, at this point in time. The concept of launching the edit button was announced only recently along with the information that the feature will be tested out by the Twitter Blue community. However, at the time of writing this article, the edit option is not yet available even for subscribed users (Twitter Blue).
The edit button on Twitter is expected to be launched to the paid users in the coming months. If you aren’t a paid user, you have to wait like the rest of the Twitter community of unsubscribed users to gain access to the edit option sometime later.
How the tweet editing feature will work, probably
At present, there is no option to edit a tweet after it is sent unless you delete the tweet and recomposes it as a fresh and separate draft. The new edit feature has created quite the buzz exactly because of this sheer desire for a quick tool to fix your typos and mistakes in a few short steps.
Click/tap the play button on the tweet below to see how will it work.
👀 pic.twitter.com/I13wE3eLdn
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022
Twitter edit is nothing more than a concept still for regular users which is anticipated to be a permanent part of the “more’ actions related to a sent tweet like deleting or pinning the selected tweet.
Are you excited about the new Edit feature on TikTok? As a typo fairy myself, I cannot be happier that getting an edit feature on Twitter is no longer an impossibility. But, do you think the consequences outweigh the purpose if it is brought before the mass? Share your thoughts with us in the comments!
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