I've been paying $3/month for a Twitter Blue account for months now. It offers various "premium" features that vary by platform, including select ad-free articles, bookmark folders, themes, and custom app icons. However, those features aren't why I continue to pay for a membership. That would be the Undo Tweet feature, which lets you edit or delete a tweet after tapping the Tweet button for up to 60 seconds.
Now comes word Twitter is thinking about giving users an actual Edit button. The feature, which is expected to ship to Twitter Blue customers first, would let users edit already published tweets at any time.
On the surface, this sounds like a worthwhile move and one that Twitter's newly crowned larger shareholder, Elon Musk, has been advocating for some time. However, I'd suggest that offering an Edit button would be bad news for Twitter and its users.
The everyday Twitter user can currently send out a 280-character tweet on supported devices, such as the best iPhone, the iPhone 13. After the tweet gets published, Twitter users can like or reply to it or send a retweet, with or without an added comment. When the original poster sees a typo or decides the tweet is no longer appropriate, the only recourse is to delete it.
According to Jake Sullivan, Twitter's head of consumer products, the proposed Edit button could allow users to "fix (sometimes embarrassing) mistakes, typos and hot takes in the moment" while leaving likes and comments intact.
That last point is where significant issues could arise.
Let's say you send out a viral tweet that gets lots of comments and retweets. Then, hours, days, or even years later, you decide to adjust that tweet to consider new thinking or information. But, unfortunately, those comments, based on the original tweet, could suddenly make less sense or, worse, make it sound like someone is advocating a position that they were not.
Though I have great respect for Musk and can't wait to see what he brings to Twitter now that he has a seat at the table, I can't get behind an Edit button unless it comes with certain safeguards. First, any changed tweet must include language noting what characters were changed and when. Second, I'd limit the time tweets can get adjusted, perhaps for as little as just a few hours.
Politicians, for example, are notorious for deleting old tweets that put them in a bad light; I can't imagine what would happen if their overworked staff now had the option to change those pesky tweets to put the boss in a better light.
This brings me back to the genius and simplicity of the Twitter Blue Undo Tweet feature. When Twitter Blue users send out a tweet, publishing is delayed for up to 60 seconds, depending on the user settings. The tweet can get edited or deleted during that time without ever being posted for the public to see. This is plenty of time for someone to recognize a typo or be really sure the tweet's appropriate for publication. Anything beyond this doesn't make any sense.
If Twitter is hellbent on giving the masses an Edit button, I suggest an interesting give and take.
While giving us an Edit button, Twitter should also remove the ability to delete posts. That way, users can still clarify past comments with edits BUT not have the opportunity to wipe those comments away forever.
It will be interesting to see how the Twitter Edit button develops. Hopefully, the powers to be won't rush it and ultimately come out with something that people can support and find useful. Stay tuned.
