Twitter on Wednesday said that it will enable users to limit the replies to their tweets as part of a new conversation settings feature. The company said that the new feature is enabled only to certain users as Twitter is only "testing" the settings. If the user is part of the test, the conversation setting feature will be visible when the user composes a tweet. The feature will enable users to select who can reply to the tweet. Twitter initially teased the feature in January with the company highlighting that it wants to aid users to “feel safe participating in the conversation on Twitter by giving them more control.” The company said that it will start “experimenting with different options” in early 2020.
Twitter Aids Users Feel Safe on its Platform
Twitter on Wednesday said that the users who are part of the conversation settings test feature will be provided with three options on the accounts that can reply to the user's tweet. The user can either select everyone or limit the replies to the people that the user follows or further limit it to the people mentioned in the tweet.
“Twitter is where you go to see and talk about what’s happening. But sometimes, unwanted replies make it hard to have meaningful conversations,” Suzanne Xie, director of product at Twitter, said in a blog post.
Tweets that have restrictions on replies will be labelled by Twitter with the reply option said to be disabled to other users. However, users who are limited to participate in the conversation will still be able to view, like or retweet with and without comment.
Twitter said that “only a limited group of people” across the globe have been enabled with the conversation settings feature.
“Being able to participate and understand what's happening is key for useful public conversation,” Xie said. “So, we're exploring how we can improve these settings to give people more opportunities to weigh in while still giving people control over the conversations they start.”
New Layout for Replies and Accessible Retweets with Comments
Additionally, Xie highlighted the new layout for replies and the accessible "retweets with comments" that were introduced by Twitter in early May.
The new layout for replies is currently enabled for users on the web and on Twitter for iOS platforms with the new design enabling “replies with lines and indentations.” The company said that the new layout will “make it clearer who is talking to whom and to fit more of the convo in one view.”
However, the new layout has received several negative responses on Twitter with several users highlighting that the new design makes it “harder to read.”
Carol Roth, entrepreneur and creator of Future File, said in a tweet that the new layout is “horrendous.”
“With all due respect, it is horrendous. It is more difficult and time consuming to engage. Can I opt-out of the beta? Thank you,” Roth said.
Meanwhile, Twitter also has made it accessible for users to view the "retweets with comments" under the retweets menu on a tweet. Users can click on the number of retweets inside a tweet to see the "retweets with comments" including those with text, photos, videos and even GIFs. Similar to the new Twitter layout, the accessible "retweets with comments" option is enabled on Twitter for iOS platforms.
