The Las Vegas Consumer Electronics show has been in the news not just for flying cars and robot chefs, but also for a plethora of major announcements by social media platforms. Twitter, too, jumped on the CES bandwagon on Thursday, announcing a range of new features primarily around the conversation space, including an all-new feature that lets users restrict replies on their tweets.
The microblogging platform announced that it will let users limit the number of replies they receive on their Tweets before sending them out, controlling who can converse on their posts. It will be testing the feature before the completion of its first quarter, in March.
The new feature is part of the microblogging platform’s ‘Conversation Dynamics’ feature set, according to a report in Input Magazine.
You will be able to tailor replies based on four different categories: ‘Anyone can reply,’ ‘Only followers can reply,’ ‘Only those tagged can reply,’ and ‘No replies at all’, according to an Inc42 report.
“The primary motivation is control,” said Kayvon Beykpour, VP of product, Twitter, at CES 2020, as quoted in Tech Crunch. “We want to build on the theme of authors getting more control.”
The feature was built on the ‘Hide replies’ option launched by Twitter earlier in 2019. The idea behind the feature is to put more control in the author’s hand with regard to managing the overall conversation. The feature will not completely control harassment and cyberbullying but is definitely a step towards curbing the number of offensive comments on Tweets.
Twitter will be focussing mainly on bettering the conversations, health and interests aspects of its platform this year, said Input Magazine. The microblogging platform is bullish on reducing online harassment and abusive comments.
“In 2019, over 50 per cent of the abusive tweets the company removed were done proactively, meaning before they were even reported by people,” Beykpour said at CES, as reported by Input.