Twitter Finally, For Real This Time, Is Implementing An Edit Button

On April Fools' Day, the official Twitter account tweeted "We are working on an edit button." It seemed like the sort of irritating April Fools' Day hoax that has made the holiday the bane of internet communities for years. Only, it turns out, they weren't fooling.

we are working on an edit button

— Twitter (@Twitter) April 1, 2022

Yesterday, Twitter confirmed that it was indeed working on an edit feature and offered a GIF demonstrating what it would look like. According to the account, Twitter will be playing with the feature in the Twitter Blue Labs over the next few months to see what works.

now that everyone is asking…

yes, we’ve been working on an edit feature since last year!

no, we didn’t get the idea from a poll 😉

we're kicking off testing within @TwitterBlue Labs in the coming months to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible.

— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022

👀 pic.twitter.com/I13wE3eLdn

— Twitter Comms (@TwitterComms) April 5, 2022

Twitter also referenced a "poll" that could potentially be viewed as influencing their decision to finally implement the long-requested edit button. That poll was posted by the site's newest board member Elon Musk on Monday, nearly 24 hours before Twitter made its own announcement.

Do you want an edit button?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 5, 2022

Now that the edit button, the anecdotally most-requested Twitter feature of its 16 years of existence, finally appears to be on the horizon, users theorized on how it could best be implemented. One of the major concerns about an edit button is the idea a tweet could be edited so its meaning is changed long after it goes viral, and users were divided on if this could be a boon or a major headache for the site going forward.

everybody freaking out over twitter finally adding an edit button.

"B-BUT PEOPLE CAN JUST CHANGE THEIR TWEETS WHEN THEY TWEET SOMETHING OFFENSIVE…."

No, just give people the option to see the original tweet. Think of it like "Hidden Tweets." BOOM. Problem solved.

— JOLLY J✨ (@DynamoSuperX) April 5, 2022

A lot of the folks who advocate for Twitter having an edit button justify their argument by saying "Facebook has an edit button". The point is not that it's some unsolvable technical challenge (though it is harder than it seems) -- it's that it's a bad idea in this context.

— anildash (@anildash) April 5, 2022

I'm genuinely confused as to why people make the idea of Twitter having an edit feature so complicated.

They say it is risky because it can breed misinformation. But almost every social media platform has an edit feature and I've never heard anyone bring up this issue until now?

— Br(e)ad 🍞🇵🇭 | under maintenance (@_braddorii) April 6, 2022

Under two conditions. It’s only available for a few minutes, 5-10 mins. And when an edit is made, there’s a small link that shows the edit. This keeps a public record but allows the tweeter the ability to fix a simple mistake and not re-notify their followers with a new tweet

— Everyday Astronaut (@Erdayastronaut) April 5, 2022

At the very least, users will finally be able to adjust harmless typos in their tweets. As for edits of more substance, we'll have to wait and see how Twitter handles that going forward.