Twitter Will Let Users Hide Replies to Protect Feelings

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Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty

Social media platform Twitter reportedly plans to allow users to hide replies to their own tweets as part of its neverending pursuit of “healthy discussions.”

Bloomberg reports that Twitter will soon allow users to hide replies to the tweets they send as the social media site attempts to improve the health of discussions and conversations on the platform. The platform has reportedly been testing the feature for months in different markets including the United States and Japan, but will now roll out the feature globally.

The new tool will allow users to hide specific comments made on their posts, meaning that the comments won’t be visible to other users unless they specifically click a button to reveal them. This change gives users a greater degree of control over their own tweets and the discussions they prompt, and allows them to hide inappropriate replies. Twitter stated a number of facts they learned during their tests in a blog post.

The firm claims that these were the result of its tests:

  • People mostly hide replies they think are irrelevant, off-topic, or annoying.
  • The option is a new way to shut out noise; 85% of the people who hide replies are not using block or mute.
  • People were curious to see how public figures like those in politics and journalism would use this update. So far, they aren’t hiding replies very often.
  • In Canada, 27% of people who had their Tweets hidden said they would reconsider how they interact with others in the future. Also, they thought it was a helpful way to manage what they saw, similar to muted keywords.
  • We learned that you may want to take further action after you hide a reply, so now we’ll check to see if you want to also block the replier.
  • Some people mentioned that they didn’t want to hide replies due to fear of retaliation as the icon remains visible. We’ll continue to get feedback on this.
  • These are early findings and we look forward to continued learning as the feature is used by more people.

The company ended the blog post stating:

Looking ahead, we’re working on new controls and more clarity around the rules of conversation spaces. Soon, we’ll be launching a new hide replies endpoint so developers can build additional conversation management tools. We’re exploring more options around who can reply to or see specific conversations, and are testing engagement changes to see if these lead to healthier discussions. We’re committed to making sure people feel safe and comfortable talking on Twitter.

Read the full blog post here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com

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