Twitter is, above all, a global community. Currently if a user posts a tweet on the social network, anyone can respond to it —whether to give their opinion, add information, or deny any data— unless you have been locked previously. But this could begin to change, according to the specialized portal technology The Verge. Twitter has announced on Wednesday at CES, the largest technology fair in the world held in Las Vegas, a function so that users can control who respond to their tweets. The aim of this measure is to try to combat bullying in the network.
Suzanne Xie, director of product management of Twitter, has explained that when you publish a tweet, any user could choose between four alternatives: global, group, panel and statement. The option “global” would allow any person to respond to the tweet; “group”, only those that the user follows and mentions; “panel”, only users specifically mentioned in the tweet”; and “statement” would not allow for any response.
We want to help people feel safe participating in the conversation on Twitter by giving them more control over the conversations they start. We’ll be experimenting with different options for who can reply to Tweets in early 2020. https://t.co/SLlgboiPQu
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) January 8, 2020
For the moment, the company aims to make a research about this feature. “The models are going to be part of an experiment that we will perform in the first quarter of the year,” he explained to the same medium. If all goes well, Twitter plans to launch the feature globally by the end of 2020.
With this measure, the technology giant seeks to limit that users will have to face nasty comments or incite to hatred on the social network. But, at first glance, this function may also allow uses more controversial. For instance, companies could use it to not have to deal with the criticisms of users. Or some internet users for spreading false news.
When questioned about the possibility of if you limit the answers to the tweets can contribute to that misinformation can not be refuted, Xie explained that a possible solution would be to cite tweets. “It’s something that we’re going to be watching very closely while we are experiencing”, he said.
to Delete the messages, harmful, threatening, or which incite to hatred on the social network is one of the priorities of the company. As explained in the CES Kayvon Beykpour, director of product at Twitter, more than 50% of this type of content is deleted automatically, without the need to be denounced.
All these movements are part of the new strategy of Twitter to improve the social network. Beykpour has been explained to the same medium, that have “accelerated” the pace to develop new features and expect to keep it in the future. Their changes and choices in the development of products, as has been said, they come motivated by the three priorities of the company: “Health, conversations and interests.” “The purpose of Twitter is to serve the public conversation,” he added.
