Twitter is now testing its highly-requested Edit Tweet feature. After years of memes and jokes, editable tweets will be available to some Twitter Blue subscribers later this month. The feature is currently undergoing “internal testing,” and appears to mimic Facebook in its edit style, with a linked edit history for tweets that we saw in leaks earlier this year.
“Tweets will be able to be edited a few times in the 30 minutes following their publication,” according to a Twitter blog post. “Edited Tweets will appear with an icon, timestamp, and label so it’s clear to readers that the original Tweet has been modified.”
The edit label will include a complete edit history, with past versions of the edited tweet. Twitter says it’s testing editable tweets with a small group initially to capture any early issues. “This includes how people might misuse the feature. You can never be too careful,” says Twitter.
Once the initial internal testing is complete, the Edit Tweet feature will expand to some Twitter Blue subscribers later this month. “The test will be localized to a single country at first and expand as we learn and observe how people use Edit Tweet,” explains Twitter.
if you see an edited Tweet it’s because we’re testing the edit button
this is happening and you’ll be okay
— Twitter (@Twitter) September 1, 2022
Jay Sullivan, Twitter’s VP of consumer product, said earlier this year that editing a tweet has been “the most requested Twitter feature for many years.” While it’s highly requested, there has also been concern around misuse. Former CEO Jack Dorsey resisted an Edit Tweet feature, saying in 2020 that Twitter would “probably never” add the feature.
Facebook, Instagram, Medium, and many other platforms include edit buttons, and there aren’t many high-profile examples of abuse. Meta’s former chief security officer Alex Stamos highlighted a cryptocurrency scam involving Facebook’s editing feature earlier this year, but it’s still a rare example.
Twitter is only talking about editable tweets for its Blue subscription, which recently raised its price in the US to $4.99 per month from $2.99. That means we probably won’t see an edit button for regular users any time soon. Other features available to Twitter Blue subscribers include an undo feature to recall tweets before you send them, a customizable navigation bar, a list of top articles shared by people you follow, and even NFT hexagon profile pics.