All about Twitter's upcoming ‘edit’ feature

You already know that Twitter is working on an ‘edit’ button, a feature that has been long requested. Former Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey has addressed the issue several times but it has never been on his list of priorities. After handing over the reins of the company to Parag Agrawal in November 2021, a lot of new features are being showcased, as if there is this huge hurry to make the platform more accessible. At what cost is the ‘edit’ button arriving and what could have taken it so long?

The way it may function

Twitter says the ‘edit’ feature will be first tried out in Twitter Blue Labs, the platform’s premium subscription product. There are quite a few ways the ‘edit’ option may get implemented. First, a straightforward edit with an indicator that the original tweet has been modified. Facebook, for example, allows comments and posts to be edited, following which the tag ‘edited’ is shown.

With Twitter, this can be complicated. A lot of companies, politicians and business folks use Twitter to make announcements; it’s more like speaking directly to followers. For example, former US President Donald Trump, before he was kicked off the platform, made excellent use (in his special way!) of the service, reaching millions and millions of followers with a few swipes. Of course, what went down with his tweets is well-known. Another Donald Trump-like move is not welcome, something Twitter knows well.

Jay Sullivan, the company’s VP of consumer product, has said the company has been looking into how to build the feature “in a safe manner” since last year. More importantly, he has tweeted: “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.”

To overcome the barrier, Twitter may look at a time limit — 30 seconds or a minute… something on those lines — during which a tweet may get edited after hitting the “send” button. Twitter Blue already has something called “Undo Tweet” which allows a pre-publication preview period.

Next, it may look at a full disclosure option coming with an edited tweet, informing followers as to what kind of edit has taken place. It’s a complicated process but definitely a possibility.

A bigger complication arises when a message is retweeted or quote retweeted by, say, a 1,000 people and then the original message is edited. How does it get reflected in the retweets? Another check could be restricting the number of edits to, say, one.

But Jack wasn’t keen on it

True, when Dorsey was around, the ‘edit’ button was not on his list of priorities. It was more like: Your tweet, your responsibility. Perhaps not having the option to edit has made Twitter a cool platform for many. Some typos can be hilarious but these can be fixed with a reply to the original tweet. In 2018, during a Q&A with Wired he clearly said no to the idea, going on to expand on his answer: “We started as an SMS, text message service. And as you all know, when you send a text, you can’t really take it back. We wanted to preserve that vibe, that feeling, in the early days.”

Dorsey stepped down as Twitter CEO in 2021 and with him left the very soul of the platform. The work on editing tweets started long ago but the timing is interesting — soon after Elon Musk was appointed to Twitter’s board. Officially, Elon’s appointment has Jack’s blessing… as if Vito Corleone has entered Dorsey’s virtual soul. Dorsey has said: “Parag and Elon lead with their hearts, and they will be an incredible team.”

The problem with Musk, whose preferred tool for communication is the one with a blue bird (Larry T. Bird), is that he easily courts controversy. His 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter Inc has made him the largest shareholder — a “passive investor” — of the social media company — going past former CEO Jack Dorsey and outpacing numerous financial institutions. The top 10 Twitter shareholders, according to FactSet, now reads: Elon Musk, Vanguard Group, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, BlackRock Fund Advisors, SSgA Funds Management, Aristotle Capital Management, Jack Dorsey and so on.

Musk has taken a Twitter poll in which he asked: “Do you want an edit button?” More than four million “votes” were cast with “yes” receiving 73.6 per cent support. (Twitter has said that it has been working on the feature before Elon Musk came into the picture.) When Musk mulled taking Tesla private in August 2018, everyone was caught off guard and started a tumultuous phase for his electric vehicle and clean energy company. Musk is known for courting controversies. Using the platform as a townhouse is fine but what requires addressing is something far more important than an ‘edit’ option.

Hiding behind many Twitter handles are anonymous people and bots. Though this has always remained a platform to easily address followers, the issue of bullying and trolling remains, even after stringent measures have been put into place.

Twitter needs to work on its verification game and immediately. It’s not going to be easy but that’s the only way transparency can be ensured. India’s version of Twitter, Koo, is allowing it, so why not Twitter? Going back to something Dorsey had said in 2018: “The intention is to open verification for everyone, and to do it in a way that is scalable where we (Twitter) are not in the way. And people can verify more facts about themselves and we don’t have to be the judge or imply any bias on our part.” Blue ticks can no longer be about “status”.

Musk, the outspoken entrepreneur, has even spoken publicly about considering starting a rival social-media platform of his own. In a tweet he has said “free speech is essential to a functioning democracy” and questioned if Twitter “rigorously adheres to this principle”. The problem is that even former US President Donald Trump has a similar pitch and has gone on to launch Truth Social in February as part of the Trump Media and Technology Group.

In all the conversation, one man has been sidelined — the present CEO of Twitter, Parag Agrawal. Is he strong enough to stand up to Musk with more than 80m followers on the platform? All we at the moment know is that an ‘edit’ feature is coming our way but it’s also ridiculous as to how long it took for the platform to make this commitment.