To say Twitter is a titan of social media would be an understatement. With over 300 million active accounts monthly, the platform built on the passing thoughts of its users is one of the most used social media sites today.
Since its inception, however, users have had one common complaint: Twitter lacks an edit button. That said, that limitation might soon become a thing of the past, as Twitter shareholder Elon Musk recently reintroduced the topic.
What to Know:
- The popular social media platform Twitter doesn’t allow users to edit posts
- Elon Musk joined Twitter’s board of directors
- The entrepreneur polled users regarding their thoughts on an edit button
Elon Musk Brought an Edit Button Back into the Spotlight on Twitter
Though a great way to find people with similar interests, Twitter’s lack of an edit button has always been a sore spot with users. Type out a hilarious joke and hit “Tweet” only to realize seconds later that you made a typo? Too bad. You can either delete the tweet and start over or leave it for everyone to read as is.
It seems, however, that new Twitter board of directors member Elon Musk has plans to rid users of that inconvenience. After becoming Twitter’s biggest shareholder, Musk tweeted a poll to his 80 million followers: would they like an edit button?
With more than 4 million votes, the answer is clear – over 70% of users want the ability to edit their tweets.
Do you want an edit button?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022
Now, those familiar with Twitter can probably see why the platform has kept an edit button out of its users’ reach for so long. Granting the ability to edit tweets could send the site into chaos if not handled correctly, as a percentage of users, no matter how small, would certainly abuse the feature.
Because of this, the edit button will almost undoubtedly come with a few caveats. Users will likely have a limited amount of time after hitting “Tweet” to limit the post. In addition, a link to the original tweet could still be available after edits.
Twitter Officials Confirm an Edit Button Is in the Works
Back in 2020, former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that the platform would probably never add an edit button to its list of features. Two years later, however, Twitter officials seem to be reneging on that promise.
After Elon Musk posed his question, Twitter posted a statement regarding the edit button. The tweet reads, “Now that everyone is asking… Yes, we’ve been working on an edit feature since last year! No, we didn’t get the idea from a poll. We’re kicking off testing within Twitter Blue Labs in the coming months to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible.”
now that everyone is asking…
— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022
yes, we’ve been working on an edit feature since last year!
no, we didn’t get the idea from a poll 😉
we’re kicking off testing within @TwitterBlue Labs in the coming months to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible.
