• by Colin Kirkland , April 6, 2022

It’s finally happening – almost. In a series of tweets this week, Twitter has confirmed it is at least working on the platform’s most requested -- and debated -- feature: a button that would allow users to edit their tweets after posting them. 

The news kicked off last week -- albeit on April Fools Day, when Twitter said, “we are working on an edit button.” 

Given the timing, users weren’t sure what to make of the news.

However, Elon Musk, Twitter’s now-largest stakeholder and newest board member, tweeted a poll days later asking users whether they want an edit button: yes or no?

Nearly 4.5 million people have voted thus far, with 73.6% in favor of being able to edit their tweets.

Less than an hour later, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal retweeted Musk’s poll, alluding to its seriousness by saying: “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.”

Finally, yesterday, Twitter confirmed via tweet that it has indeed been working on an edit feature since last year, and denouncing that Musk’s poll had anything to do with its decision. 

Most notably, the tweet mentioned that testing on an edit button will begin “in the coming months” with subscribers of Twitter’s premium service, Twitter Blue. 

This news comes after previous CEO Jack Dorsey’s early 2020 interview with Wired, during which he dashed all hopes for the edit button. Then, in 2021, Twitter Blue adopted an “undo” button which allowed subscribers to retract tweets up to 30 seconds after posting.

While this feature didn’t offer users “editing” abilities per se, it seemed a step in that direction.

On Tuesday, Jay Sullivan, Twitter’s vice president of consumer product, provided a more in-depth view of how the platform is approaching widespread editing possibilities. 

In a long series of tweets, Sullivan admitted that “edit” has been the most requested feature “for many years,” as users want the option to fix mistakes they’ve made – typos, sudden reactionary tweets regretted after a moment has passed.

Though Sullivan also highlights potentially harmful aspects of the feature. 

Most specifically, that “edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation.” He said protecting that integrity is Twitter’s main priority. 

Sullivan ended by saying, “We will approach this feature with care and thoughtfulness and we will share updates as we go.”