Twitter’s long-awaited — and controversial — edit button is finally here.
The social media company announced Thursday that it has started testing the option internally before plans to roll it out to Twitter Blue subscribers “in the coming weeks.”
“If you see an edited Tweet it’s because we’re testing the edit button,” the company tweeted Thursday morning. “This is happening and you’ll be okay.”
How will Twitter's edit button work?
In the current iteration, tweets can be edited only in the first 30 minutes after they are sent. Edited tweets will include a special icon, a timestamp for the edit and a label “so it’s clear to readers that the original tweet has been modified,” Twitter said.
Like on Facebook, viewers can also click on the tweet’s edit history and see all of the changes that have been made.
“The time limit and version history play an important role here,” Twitter said in a statement.
“They help protect the integrity of the conversation and create a publicly accessible record of what was said.”
“The time limit and version history play an important role here. They help protect the integrity of the conversation and create a publicly accessible record of what was said.”
Twitter
While being able to fix typos would save some time and embarrassment, many users have expressed concern about people taking advantage of an edit button to completely alter a message after it has been retweeted or replied to.
“We’re hoping that, with the availability of Edit Tweet, tweeting will feel more approachable and less stressful,” the site said.
“You should be able to participate in the conversation in a way that makes sense to you, and we’ll keep working on ways that make it feel effortless to do just that.”