This story might not seem like a big deal to most, but if you have been using the Twitter app, you know just how long users have been requesting an edit button. If fact, it was requested so much that it eventually became a meme.
But the edit button is now becoming a reality. The idea is that users will be able to fix any typos or grammatical errors in their tweets after posting them. But this feature will not be sent out to the public immediately, just as with any new feature. Twitter plans to begin testing the Feature with Twitter Blue subscribers in “the coming months.”
1. Why has it taken so long to get an edit button?
Jay Sullivan, the company’s VP of consumer product, said that the edit button has been “the most requested feature for many years.” And the team at Twitter has not been ignoring the requests. They have been looking into how to build the feature in a safe manner.
“Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation. Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work.”
How bad is altering the record of public conversation though? According to Meta’s former chief security officer, Alex Stamos, it’s quite bad. “A lot of people are underestimating the abuse potential of an edit button. Recently looked at a massive cryptocurrency scam that was supported by automated editing of a verified FB page’s posts to create a legit-looking brokerage. The abuse state diagram here is massive.”
So maybe the wait to get a new, shiny edit button isn’t so bad after all. With the increased risk behind online scams, it is best to make sure that Twitter protects their user-base as much as possible.
2. Will the Twitter Edit Button Change Things?
Is this feature going to change much in the digital marketing world? It likely will, but not in any large way. If a marketer sends a post that has some spelling or grammatical error (which is something that every social media management company should find before it goes live), they can now either edit the post rather than delete and repost, potentially losing all of the engagement generated before removing.
This will most likely be used by content creators and influencers, though. It isn’t rare to see an influencer make a post and quickly follow up with a reply with the appropriate #sponsored or #ad additions.
So, at the end of the day, is this going to make an astronomical difference in our lives? Probably not. But it is a quality-of-life addition that Twitter’s users have been waiting for, and are excited to finally receive.