Microblogging site Twitter has recently announced that users of the site will soon be able to mute specific conversations they encounter on the site.
Furthermore, users will also be given the ability to filter out all tweets that contain a certain word or phrase. As a result, these tweets will not be seen in that user’s notifications.
Twitter revealed that it is one of the most requested feature additions it has received in the 10 years since the platform’s inception. The company has said that it listens to what its users want to see on the site in a bid to make it a better experience for users.
There are many reasons why this feature has been added, and it allows users to take more control in what they see in their timelines and what they are notified about. The most logical reason behind the introduction of muting and filtering is a method to try and reduce the amount of cyberbullying and harassment that happens on the site.
In the past, the company has been criticised for not doing enough to tackle the issue of trolling and online bullying, but this movement will allow users to filter out some of the negative and hateful comments they may see and receive. As well as the launch of the mute feature, Twitter has also improved the options available to report these types of negative comments, with the company saying it has improved its internal tools and given its employees training to deal with reported content in a more efficient way.
In a statement relating to the matter, Twitter said that it doesn’t expect to see abusive content suddenly removed from the platform, stating that no single action could do this, but insisting that it is committed to quickly improving this part of the site.
As well as combatting the darker side of social media, the new muting feature can also be useful to those with many followers, as they can silently drop out of a discussion started by a tweet that has gained a lot of interaction. This mute feature see users no longer notified about interactions from thousands of strangers who may reply to a tweet – something that will come in very handy to many celebrities and public figures.
A third way that the mute tool could come in handy to all Twitter users is that they will now be able to mute the names of any television shows or sports events that they do not wish to know the result of, or receive spoilers about. This will be particularly handy for those who cannot watch a show live at the time and who who wish to catch up at a later time without having the outcome ruined by social media.
This new tool is currently being rolled out to all users, according to the site.
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