{"id":17140,"date":"2019-07-17T22:24:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T22:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/twitter-officially-launches-its-hide-replies-feature-initially-to-users-in-canada.html"},"modified":"2019-07-17T22:24:13","modified_gmt":"2019-07-17T22:24:13","slug":"twitter-officially-launches-its-hide-replies-feature-initially-to-users-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/twitter-officially-launches-its-hide-replies-feature-initially-to-users-in-canada.html","title":{"rendered":"Twitter officially launches its \u2018Hide Replies\u2019 feature, initially to users in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Twitter <\/a> today is beginning its test of a radical and controversial change<\/a> to its service with the launch of a new \u201cHide Replies\u201d feature. Effectively, this option gives users the ability to wrestle back control over a conversation they\u2019ve started by hiding any replies they feel aren\u2019t worthy contributions \u2014 for example, replies that are irrelevant or outright offensive.<\/p>\n

One of the problems with Twitter \u2014 and with many social networks, for that matter \u2014 is that an otherwise healthy conversation can easily be disrupted by a single individual or a small number of people who don\u2019t contribute in a positive fashion. They come into a thread to start drama or they make inappropriate, rude or even hateful remarks.<\/p>\n

Of course, users can choose for themselves to either Mute or Block people like this, which limits their ability to affect their own personal experience on Twitter. But this doesn\u2019t remove their comments from others\u2019 view. The \u201cHide Replies\u201d feature, however, will.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not the equivalent of a delete button. In other words, hidden replies are not removed from Twitter entirely, they are just placed behind an icon. If people want to see the hidden replies, they can press this icon to view them.<\/p>\n

\"author1<\/p>\n

Twitter\u2019s goal with the feature is to encourage more civil conversation on its platform. It could work, as those who want their comments seen by a wide audience will have to find a way to express themselves in an appropriate fashion \u2014 without taking the conversation off course or resorting to insults or trolling. Otherwise, they know their replies could be hidden from the default view.<\/p>\n

But this change is not without significant downsides.<\/p>\n

For example, a user could choose to hide replies that simply (and even politely!) disagreed with their view. This would then create a \u201cfilter bubble\u201d where only people who shared the original poster\u2019s same opinion would have their comments prominently displayed. In this case, the feature would be silencing other viewpoints \u2014 and that\u2019s in direct opposition to Twitter\u2019s larger goal of creating a public town square on the web, where every voice has a chance to be heard.<\/p>\n

More worryingly, a user could choose to hide replies that attempt to correct misinformation or offer a fact check. That\u2019s a significant concern at a time when social media platforms have turned into propaganda dissemination machines, and have been infiltrated by state-supported actors from foreign governments looking to manipulate public sentiment and influence elections.<\/p>\n

Twitter claims the feature provides transparency because hidden replies are still available for viewing to anyone who wishes to see them. But this assumes that people will notice the small \u201chidden replies\u201d icon and bother to click it.<\/p>\n

The ability to hide replies is initially available only to users in Canada, but tweets with hidden replies will be accessible by all Twitter users worldwide.<\/p>\n

\n

We\u2019re testing a feature to hide replies from conversations. This experience will be available for everyone around the world, but at this time, only people in Canada can hide replies to their Tweets. <\/p>\n

We want to know what you think. Please Tweet us your feedback and questions! https:\/\/t.co\/H7iMtEhCUP<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) July 17, 2019<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

In a statement posted as a series of tweets and replies to others, Twitter explained its goals around the new addition:<\/p>\n

\n

We\u2019re testing a feature to hide replies from conversations. This experience will be available for everyone around the world, but at this time, only people in Canada can hide replies to their Tweets\u2026They\u2019ll be hidden from the main conversation for everyone behind a new icon. As long as it hasn\u2019t been deleted and\/or is not from an account with protected Tweets, everyone can still interact with a hidden reply by clicking the icon to view. We want everyone on Twitter to have healthy conversations, and we\u2019re working on features that will help people feel more comfortable. We\u2019re testing a way for people to hide replies they feel are irrelevant or offensive.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Twitter had previously confirmed<\/a> its plans to test a \u201cHide Replies\u201d feature, and had\u00a0announced<\/a> its plan to launch the feature sometime this week.<\/p>\n

Social media is due for a course correction, and Twitter at least isn\u2019t afraid to try significant changes to its platform. (It\u2019s even trying a new prototype of its app, called twttr.) However, some would argue that permanent bans on rulebreakers and more attention to enforcing existing policies would negate the need for features like this.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/vjXMe1npdG8\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Twitter today is beginning its test of a radical and controversial change to its service with the launch of a new \u201cHide Replies\u201d feature. Effectively, this option gives users the <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-17140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t