At the end of May, Twitter began testing a new functionality that allowed some of its users to choose who can reply to their messages. As of this Tuesday, the company has extended this possibility to the entire community of the social network. “We have been testing new configurations to give people more control over the conversations they initiate. We have seen that some people use them to have conversations that were not possible before. Therefore, starting today, everyone will be able to use these settings so that unwanted responses do not interfere with meaningful conversations, ”the company explains in a statement.
From now on, Twitter will choose between three options before publishing a tweet: that any user of the network can respond, only the people who are followed by the person who publishes the message, or only those who are mentioned. If one of these last two possibilities is chosen, a clarification will be displayed for the rest of the users informing them that they cannot respond. Still, everyone can continue to view, retweet , retweet with comment, share and like those tweets.
“Since we started testing in May, users have used this option for interviews and panels. These settings help some people feel more secure, ”the statement read. "Users tell us that they feel more comfortable tweeting and more protected from spam and abuse." The company also understands that it is a new method to block noise, and estimates that 60% of the people who have used it during the trial period did not use the mute or block options.
You have also found that some people are using these settings to have more sensitive conversations about political and social issues. Those who have a large following "use these settings to share more feelings, opinions and personal news," the company concludes.
