Twitter wants to provide users with more controls over who can reply to their specific tweets. As discovered by a reverse-engineering specialist Jane Manchun Wong, Twitter is working to implement a new feature that should help users keep abusive trolls at bay.
Twitter actively testing Conversation Controls
Twitter is testing Twitter Conversation Controls that allows users to lock down a specific conversation and decide who is allowed to reply to a particular tweet. Going by Wong’s screenshot, Twitter will allow users to choose from certain conversation types, as follows:
- Open – Anyone on Twitter can reply to your tweet.
- Community – Anyone you follow and mention can reply to your tweet.
- By invitation – Anyone you mention in the tweet can reply to your tweet.
This could be an effective solution for anyone trying to prevent abusive trolls from replying to their tweets or hi-jacking their conversations. So, let’s say you select the option Open. Any random Twitter user can reply to your tweets.
If you select the option Community, only those you follow on Twitter can reply to your tweet. If you mention someone you don’t follow, they can still reply to your tweets. So, it’s always recommended to be careful about who you interact with publicly on Twitter.
As far as the last option By invitation is concerned, only people you mention in the tweet can reply to your tweet.
Last month, Twitter announced its plans to roll out similar changes to conversations. Twitter’s director of product management, Suzanne Xie, had announced during the CES that the company is planning to provide users with the following set of options:
- Global – Anyone can reply to your tweet
- Group – People you follow can reply to your tweet
- Panel – People you mention can reply to your tweet
- Statement – Nobody but you can reply to your tweet
Although the set of offerings could be more or less similar to Wong’s discovery, there’s one major difference. The screenshot shared by Wong doesn’t include a control where nobody can reply to your tweet.
This feature is currently in works. However, there’s no timeline available on when Twitter will actually release Conversation Controls to general users.
