Twitter has never been shy in rolling out updates to its service. It has offered us trending topics to browse through, increased the length of tweets from 140 to 280 characters, added lists, likes and bookmarks. Unlamented features such as Vine and Fleets have come and gone. But every time it made a change, the reply from many of its users was the same: “What about an edit button?”
If Twitter is about anything, it’s about brevity and speed. Keen to surf the crest of the wave of information, people quickly dash off posts and inevitably make mistakes in the process. They accidentally reply to the wrong people, make factual bloopers and spelling errors. It happens constantly, and many Twitter users yearn to be able to press a button to correct the mistake rather than delete the tweet and type it all out again. They’re baffled by the obstinate refusal of Twitter to implement what would seem to be a simple measure.
Twitter’s official account has been coy about the subject for years, often teasing users about their frustration. In May 2019, it posted: “FYI: there IS an edit button. (In your brain)”. A year later, as the Covid-19 pandemic swept the world, it offered a deal: “You can have an edit button when everyone wears a mask.” (It quickly clarified that “everyone means EVERYONE”, ie, we probably shouldn’t expect such a button any time soon.) Last year, it revisited the subject in dismissive terms: “You don't need an edit button, you just need to forgive yourself.”
The issue has long been debated behind the scenes at Twitter HQ, but former chief executive and founder Jack Dorsey has been against it from the start. “We started as an SMS, text message service," he said in a video Q&A with Wired magazine in 2020. "And as you all know, when you send a text, you can’t really take it back. We wanted to preserve that vibe, that feeling.” But this is about more than a mere feeling. At the real root of the problem lies that old chestnut, misinformation.
When new Twitter board member Elon Musk tweeted a poll this week to canvass views on the implementation of an edit button, conservative commentator Liz Wheeler summed up the inherent difficulty in a reply: “What if a tweet goes viral, lots of retweets & millions of impressions, & then the author completely changes the meaning? Not just a grammatical fix, but a TOTAL ideological change? Or shameless self-promote?”
Twitter’s head of consumer product, Jay Sullivan, echoed this: “It could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation. Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work.”
Respondents voted overwhelmingly for the convenience of correcting spelling mistakes over any concerns about integrity of information
There are, of course, ways around it. Imposing a time limit after posting during which any edits must be made, for example. Or maybe adopt the approach used by Facebook, where any edited posts are marked as such, alongside a log of any changes that have been made. Indeed, Facebook’s chief technology officer, Andrew Bosworth, tweeted on Wednesday that editing posts “wasn’t an issue”, and it had been “solved a long time ago”.
The vast majority of respondents to Musk’s poll certainly don’t see the problem, as they voted overwhelmingly for the convenience of correcting spelling mistakes over any concerns about integrity of information.
We’ll never know whether the poll had a direct effect, but it now appears that the tweet posted on Twitter’s account on April Fool's Day — which many thought was a joke — is actually true. “We are working on an edit button,” it reads. Twitter Support has now confirmed that the feature will be tested on Twitter’s paid subscribers to “learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible”.
So, those who are truly desperate to edit their tweets will have to pay for the privilege, at least at first. The rest will have to wait. That wait is unlikely to be a patient one.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Teams
Pakistan: Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Mohammad Hafeez, Sahibzada Farhan, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shanwari, Hasan Ali, Imad Wasim, Faheem Ashraf.
New Zealand: Kane Williamson (captain), Corey Anderson, Mark Chapman, Lockie Ferguson, Colin de Grandhomme, Adam Milne, Colin Munro, Ajaz Patel, Glenn Phillips, Seth Rance, Tim Seifert, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Ross Taylor.
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
The biog
Favourite films: Casablanca and Lawrence of Arabia
Favourite books: Start with Why by Simon Sinek and Good to be Great by Jim Collins
Favourite dish: Grilled fish
Inspiration: Sheikh Zayed's visionary leadership taught me to embrace new challenges.
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
Hotel Silence
Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir
Pushkin Press
Zayed Sustainability Prize
More from our neighbourhood series:
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
MATCH INFO
What: Brazil v South Korea
When: Tonight, 5.30pm
Where: Mohamed bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Tickets: www.ticketmaster.ae
MATCH INFO
Uefa Champions League quarter-final, second leg (first-leg score):
Manchester City (0) v Tottenham Hotspur (1), Wednesday, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
Why it pays to compare
A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
