Twitter would like to allow editing of tweets, but it is really complicated – Le Journal du Geek

This night, Jack Dorsey, the CEO of Twitter has asked users of the social network what feature they would most like to see appear on Twitter. The response has been unanimous : the ability to edit tweets to correct in case of error. This would not be without consequence on the way the social network is used.

This night, Jack Dorsey was visibly in need of inspiration to find good resolutions to be presented for the next week. He has therefore asked his followers "What is the most important thing that you would like to improve or create on Twitter by 2017 ?".

Edit tweets, the feature most requested

And, unsurprisingly, the most requested feature was the ability to edit his tweets. In other words, the possibility of correcting the mistakes in spellings, to remove a photo inserted by mistake, or even rewrite a statement clumsy. Jack Dorsey is well aware that it is something very expected by users.

A way to edit his tweets is really necessary. But for the whole world, not only for those whose account has been certified

But as pointed out by many users, this can be potentially dangerous. In the case of Twitter, where tweets may be retweeted (repeated) several thousand or even hundred of thousands of times, what would happen if the tweet in question was edited to display a different message a few hours or a few days after ? If a joke harmless, turned into an image shocking ?

The complicated case of the tweets changed that have been retweeted thousands of times ?

The answer to these problems is not obvious. One of the proposed solutions would be to allow the amendment of a tweet in only a few minutes after its publication, as well as an icon or a marker indicating that the tweet has been modified. Jack Dorsey also goes so far as to propose to display a changelog of changes to the tweet in question.

The CEO of Twitter has also noted on his account that he will focus on the proposals of the users in the day. Among the things most in demand, in addition to publishing the tweets, are also applications of tools of reporting more efficient, to improve the usability of the interface (lists for example) or private messages.