Twitter made an edit button, but you’ll have to pay to use it

If there was ever a fundamental division between ‘s Twitter its leader and users, it’s about the existence or lack of, of an edit button. The company for most of its existence has resisted the ability for users to modify tweets after they’ve been published. That more or less changed from today, since Twitter announced that it will actually roll out an edit button to its users. Like The New York Times Reportedly, it marks the most fundamental change to how the platform works since 2017, when it doubled the character limit of a message from 140 to 280 characters.

In a statement, Twitter said that it hoped that the presence of an edit button would make the act of tweeting a little less stressful. Unfortunately, the button is not yet ready to roll out to the platform’s several hundred million users and is currently being tested by staff. Later this month, access will be given to Twitter Blue users, who pay $5 per month to remove in-feed ads and undo a tweet you might want to change before people see it. see it. The company added that the test will be localized to one country and will expand worldwide slowly so the company can ensure that the feature is being used as intended.

One of the reasons why Twitter has resisted the edit button for so long is the risk of bad guys taking advantage of the system. For example, you can modify a tweet that has been widely retweeted or embedded in other websites, changing the meaning of something that the person promoting it did not intend. That’s why there will be balustrades in place – like the fact that edits can only be made 30 minutes after initial publication. And edits will be labeled as such to make sure people know you’re editing your text – with revision history also available for all to see. Still, it’s a way to at least reduce your blushing when you send out a Tweet with three or two nasty typos.