Twitter has started testing a new conversation feature that will allow users to limit how many people can reply to their tweets. Twitter is testing the feature with a limited group of users globally on Twitter for iOS, Android, and Twitter web.
Suzanne Xie, director of product management, Twitter, wrote in a blog post, “Being able to participate and understand what’s happening is key for useful public conversation. So, we’re exploring how we can improve these settings to give people more opportunities to weigh in while still giving people control over the conversations they start. In addition to this, we’re making it easier to read all conversations around a Tweet with a new layout for replies and more accessible Retweets with comments.”
Users will be able to choose who can reply with three options before posting a tweet: everyone (the default setting), only people you follow, or only people you mention. Tweets with the latter two options will be labeled, and the reply icon will be grayed out. Even with the restricted replies, everyone will be able to like, retweet, and retweet with comment.
Twitter has posted a video demonstrating the feature:
This new feature could help users to prevent cyberbullying and online harassment on Twitter. Recently, the online platform has also added the ability to hide unwanted replies.
