Twitter launches much-awaited ‘Edit’ button; here’s how it works

A day after social media platform Twitter Inc. came up with the 'Circle' feature to allow users to share their tweets with closed groups of up to 150, it has now launched its much-awaited 'Edit Tweet' feature on a trial basis for internal employees. The Edit button, which as per Twitter was the most requested feature yet, will eventually be expanded out to the Twitter Blue subscription population, says the microblogging platform.

Unlike other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn, Twitter so far had no edit option so users had to delete the tweet in case they wanted to make any changes to it.

"Edit Tweet is being tested by our team internally. The test will then be initially expanded to Twitter Blue subscribers in the coming weeks," says Twitter, which has been engaged in a bitter legal tussle over the issue of acquisition with the world's richest man and the CEO of electric vehicle giant Tesla Inc.

Twitter says though the feature has been rolled out internally, everyone can see if a tweet has been edited. "Given that this is our most requested feature to date, we wanted to both update you on our progress and give you a heads up that, even if you’re not in a test group, everyone will still be able to see if a Tweet has been edited," says the company.

Users will be able to edit tweets a few times in the 30 minutes following their publication. Edited Tweets will appear with an icon, timestamp, and label so it’s clear to readers that the original Tweet has been modified. Tapping the label will take viewers to the Tweet’s edit history, which includes past versions of the Tweet.

According to Twitter, the time limit and version history play an important role as they help protect the integrity of the conversation and create a publicly accessible record of what was said.

After the internal trial, the feature will be expanded to Twitter Blue subscribers. They will receive early access to features, and then the service will be fully launched on Twitter. "The test will be localised to a single country at first and expand as we learn and observe how people use Edit Tweet," says the tech major.

Twitter has also come up with a new feature called 'Circle', which allows you to tweet to a smaller selective crowd. The feature has launched globally with effect from August 30, 2022. With Twitter Circle, people can choose -- up to 150 people -- who can see and engage with their content on a tweet-by-tweet basis. The feature is much like Meta-owned WhatsApp’s group’s feature, though it works differently.

Meanwhile, Twitter is currently engaged in a bitter legal battle with Tesla Inc chief Elon Musk after the billionaire ended the $44 billion deal to buy the platform abruptly. Twitter has sued Musk in the U.S. Delaware Court of Chancery last month and the trial in the case is expected to start in October.