Change is afoot in the world of Twitter functionality. But what will stay and what will go? The social network is constantly announcing new features on the platform. But while some are just rolling out, others won't make it through the summer. Here's a look at some of the changes happening on the social media site.
It can be hard to keep up. Twitter has once again announced changes -- two this time -- regarding tools launched on the platform. In a tweet from the official Twitter Safety account, the platform announced that users will now be able to change the accessibility of their tweets even after having posted their messages online.
It was in August 2020 that Twitter rolled out this reply moderation system, allowing users to choose who was allowed to reply to their tweets: everyone, just the people they follow, or a custom selection of people. From now on, users will be able to change their mind and modify this authorization without having to delete the tweet in question.
While this function is already available, Twitter is still not allowing tweets to be edited after posting. It's an option that's widely requested by users, but one which Twitter does not seem ready to offer:
While Twitter has improved its moderation system for tweets, the social network is already waving goodbye to one of its recently added features. Less than a year after being announced, Fleets will bow out of the platform August 3. "We built Fleets as a lower-pressure, ephemeral way for people to share their fleeting thoughts. We hoped Fleets would help more people feel comfortable joining the conversation on Twitter. But, in the time since we introduced Fleets to everyone, we haven't seen an increase in the number of new people joining the conversation with Fleets like we hoped," explains Twitter's official blog.
Like the Stories functions on Instagram or Snapchat, Fleets allow users to share content for 24 hours, in a bid to encourage more interaction on the platform. But this does not appear to have had the desired effect, since the function is ultimately used primarily by the platform's most active users. However, this disappointment hasn't hampered Twitter's ambitions, it seems, since the social network is already promising new features to come. Possibly this fall?
