Twitter caves on the edit button

It’s finally happening, friends. Twitter announced it’s testing an edit button, something former CEO Jack Dorsey said it’d “probably never” do.

A common Twitter gripe has been that the only way to fix a typo is to delete and repost, which is frustrating if it’s already going viral or spurring conversation.

Twitter’s edit button…

… will roll out among Twitter Blue subscribers, who get early access to features, later this month. It’s unclear when the rest of us will get it.

To alleviate concerns that people will edit tweets to spread misinformation or say something embarrassing after garnering likes and RTs:

• Changes can be made for only 30 minutes after posting the OG tweet
• An icon, time stamp, and label will show it’s been edited (like this)
• Tapping the label will show the edit history

Why’s it matter?

Twitter’s finally giving the people their most requested feature, but also an incentive to join its $4.99/mo. subscription service.

• It also somewhat aligns Twitter with other platforms. Facebook’s edit button came in 2013. Reddit lets you edit posts, but not titles. Youtube? Edit to your heart’s content.

In 2020, Dorsey said Twitter was different in that it began as an SMS platform. Because you couldn’t recall texts, Twitter should maintain that “vibe.”

But that vibe is fading. Apple announced that, with iOS 16, users will be able to recall iMessages.

For more buttons: Read about Netflix’s best button innovations, or The Button, a 2015 Reddit experiment from “Wordle” creator Josh Wardle to see how long users could keep a button with a 60-second timer going.