By Alice Seeley
Twitter released its long-awaited edit button on Sep. 1 after users begged for the feature for years. According to Twitter’s Vice-President of Consumer Product, Jay Sullivan, the ability to edit tweets was “the most requested Twitter feature for many years.”
The addition of the edit button is the biggest change the social media platform has seen since 2017, when it changed the character limit for Tweets from 140 to 280 characters. Almost all other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, have allowed users to edit posts for years.
Twitter is testing the edit button internally, continuing to fine-tune the feature.
“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,” Twitter stated. “This includes how people might misuse the feature.”
After the feature is tested internally, it will first be released to Twitter Blue subscribers, who pay $5 per month to remove in-feed ads before it is released for free to the general public.
According to the company, releasing the edit button makes tweeting less stressful.
“We’re hoping that with the availability of Edit Tweet, tweeting will feel more approachable and less stressful,” Twitter stated. “You should be able to participate in the conversation in a way that makes sense to you.”
However, there are rules to editing tweets. Users will only be able to edit Tweets for 30 minutes after the original tweet is posted. Once the Tweet is edited, it will be publicly labeled as an edited post, and users will be able to see the history of the edits.
