Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey this week warned that Twitter will “probably never” let you edit your tweets.
Editing has long been the most-requested feature among the Twitter community. But despite making some “practical considerations,” the micro-blogging network has dashed hopes it will ever happen.
Every Twitter user hates the fact that you cannot edit tweets. If you accidentally post something that’s incorrect, or littered with typos, your only option right now is to delete the tweet and publish a new one.
That can be incredibly frustrating — especially when other social networks support editing. Twitter has previously offered hope that the feature would come … one day. But that seems more unlikely than ever now.
Dorsey dashes hopes of Twitter edit button
During a Q&A video for Wired, Dorsey was asked by one Twitter user if we could finally get an edit button in 2020. His reply was both blunt and disappointing: “No.”
“The reason there’s no edit button traditionally is [Twitter] started as an SMS text messaging service,” Dorsey went on to explain. “We wanted to preserve that vibe and that feeling in the early days.”
Now Twitter is an app and people are using it on the web, Dorsey acknowledged. An edit button makes a lot more sense today. “But we’ll probably never do it,” Dorsey said.
Why not?
There are a number of reasons why editing tweets would cause complications. One is that tweets can be retweeted — typos and all — before edits are made. This renders the retweet inaccurate, Dorsey noted.
Twitter has made some considerations, and toyed with the idea of giving people 30 seconds or a minute to change a tweet before it is properly published. But that means delaying tweets, which Twitter doesn’t want to do.
Dorsey’s comments are disappointing, but they won’t be much of a surprise to most Twitter users. Twitter has never promised an edit button, and we all had the feeling that if it was going to happen, it would have by now.
Dorsey doesn’t rule it out completely, of course. But you certainly shouldn’t be holding your breath. Cult of Mac has asked Twitter for comment and we’ll update this story when we get one.
