In brief: Twitter has revealed several new features it's been working on, and discussed a number of areas like user security and the overall health of the platform. Among the highlights are changes to Twitter conversations, content moderation, and user experience. The first new feature that you'll be able to test is a way to follow topics the same way you follow people on Twitter.
Twitter held a press event in San Francisco where Product Lead Kayvon Beykpour detailed several changes coming to the platform. Right from the get-go, he addressed the edit button that everyone wants but isn't coming any time soon. However, he feels like the social giant could eventually implement the feature for very specific needs like correcting a typo or clarifying tweets, provided that there will be enough safety checks in place to prevent any abuse.
While the edit feature is at the bottom of the priority list, Twitter is starting a string of tests for new features that should go live in the following months. Perhaps the most important addition is the ability for users to follow specific topics of their choosing from a continuously updated list. The company didn't offer any examples but Beykpour noted that some topics will be prevented from surfacing among the options by a curation team, while most of the work will be done using AI.
It's worth noting that Twitter will also allow you to mute topics like TV shows in case you want to avoid spoilers, which should temporarily hide those tweets until you've caught up with the latest episode. The company is also testing a feature that will let you set up your own topics of interest by mixing keywords with Twitter accounts. The resulting list will then be accessible with a swipe from the home feed, so it will presumably be more convenient that diving into the Moments tab.
Twitter is also working on "re-energizing investment in DMs" with quality of life improvements like the ability to create threads within direct conversations and search for specific messages using keywords. This means we're about to see even more of these as the social giant is scrambling to take advantage of Facebook's bad reputation and attract as many users to its platform as it can.
There are also other minor features in development, such as support for Live Photos from iOS devices and the ability to reorder photos in a tweet after uploading them. Beykpour also expressed his regret that Vine had to be shut down while adding that it has nothing to do with TikTok's surge in popularity.
To put things in perspective, Twitter has a renewed focus on content moderation and user control. The company currently has a team of 1,500 employees across nine locations who have the specific task of responding to moderation requests and also plans to let users take action on replies to their own tweets.
https://www.techspot.com/news/81439-twitter-soon-you-follow-topics-curated-ai.html
