New York (CNN Business) – After years of users clamoring for such a feature, Twitter is finally testing edited tweets.
Twitter (TWTR) said in — where else? — a tweet Thursday morning that some users may start seeing edited tweets in their feed because it is testing the long-awaited edit button.
“This is happening and you’ll be okay,” the company said.
In a Thursday blog post, the company said edited tweets are being tested internally and that the feature would expand to subscribers of its paid Twitter Blue service later this month. The test will first roll out to Twitter Blue subscribers in New Zealand, with Australia, Canada and the US to follow, according to the company. Users outside the test group will also be able to see edited tweets on the platform.
Twitter said in April that it had been testing an edit feature for a year, and that it would be available to Twitter Blue subscribers within months. The announcement came the same day the company announced that it would add Elon Musk to its board, and after he polled his followers about whether they’d like an edit button on the platform. When it confirmed the edit feature was in the works, Twitter also said, “no, we didn’t get the idea from a poll.”
(Musk later pulled out of the board seat offer, agreed to buy Twitter outright, moved to terminate the acquisition deal and now is fighting a lawsuit from Twitter that seeks to compel him to follow through with the deal.)
Although many people have for years been calling on Twitter to add an edit button — which rivals like Facebook and Instagram offer — others have raised concerns about the potential implications of such a feature. Safety experts asked, for example: What if a harmless tweet went viral and then was edited to include harassment or misinformation, increasing the reach of a tweet that might otherwise not have spread?
Twitter said in its Thursday blog post that in this test, tweets will be able to be edited “a few times” for up to 30 minutes after they are first posted. Edited tweets will appear with an icon, label and timestamp to make it obvious they have been modified, and users can click through to a tweet’s “edit history” to see past versions.
“Like any new feature, we’re intentionally testing Edit Tweet with a smaller group to help us incorporate feedback while identifying and resolving potential issues. This includes how people might misuse the feature.”
