Tag: twitter

Twitter is testing the option to change video playback speeds
Twitter announced that it is testing a new option for changing the playback speed of a video, which is just like the playback option on YouTube, Netflix, and other video platforms.

In the tweet from Twitter, we see that the new playback option may appear as a gear icon on top of the currently playing video. When tapped, a menu would appear with speed options varying from 0.25x to 2x, making it exceptionally useful for people who don’t have much time to watch videos or for people who need to slow the playback for some reason. Twitter also mentioned that the available speeds might differ based on whether you are watching the video on Android or the web.

Currently, Twitter’s playback option is only available on the Android and web versions of the platform, and only certain people have access to it. In the future, the test option will be available for iPhones as well, and at this time, there is no information on when we could expect Twitter to make the new feature available for every Twitter user.

The playback option would be available on ‘Tweet Videos, Amplify Videos, Voice Tweets, videos in DMs, and Video Live Replays, depending on their platform.’

I was curious to see if I was one of the users who have access to the new playback speed option, and I indeed have a gear icon when I open a video on Twitter. When I click on the gear button, however, I only find playback speed options ranging from 1x to 2x in the browser version of Twitter and 1x to 1.75x with 200% as the maximum option in the mobile app of the platform.
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February 10, 2022
Twitter will start testing its long-anticipated downvote feature globally

Downvoting on Twitter has been in testing since summer last year, and the feature is now finally expanding for testing to more users. The button will be available to a select group of users around the world, as the company seems to have received positive feedback about the feature since the initial testing performed last July.

Twitter said in a post that the company has learned a lot about the types of replies that users don’t find relevant, based on the feedback from the initial testing period. Now, the test will be expanded to the web, as well as both iOS and Android users.

The number of downvotes a reply to a tweet gets will not be visible to the public; however, users will be able to see how many downvotes they got on a reply they published. During the first testing period, Twitter had made available several different versions of downvoting. For example, some users had both upvote and downvote buttons, while others had a downvote button next to the heart option.

A third version of the test had thumbs up and thumbs down to indicate upvoting and downvoting. Twitter has not said whether the global tests will have the same options.

According to Twitter, the majority of users have downvoted because a reply has been perceived as offensive, not relevant, or both. Additionally, downvoting has also become a convenient way to flag content you don’t want to see, according to the social media giant.

But Twitter is a bit late to the party. For example, Reddit has used downvotes since it started back in 2015. Facebook, on the other hand, has tested downvotes in 2018, but the feature never made it to an official global release. On the other hand, Instagram has an option for users to hide likes if they wish to.

Twitter Safety stated that so far, the experiment with downvoting has been a positive experience and that people who had tested it said that it improves the quality of conversations on the platform.

It’s not only downvoting that Twitter has been recently working on. The social media platform has been busy performing tests on different features bound to improve the experience users have when visiting Twitter and socializing with others on the platform.

The most recent feature that we reported on is reportedly dubbed Articles, and it could allow users to create blog-like posts on the platform that don’t suffer from the 280-character limit. The feature seems to be in the works and was discovered by reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong.

Another interesting feature that Twitter seems to be working on is called Tweet Take, which would allow you to use your camera to add a video or photo reaction to your retweets. When you tap on the retweet button, you would be able to activate your camera to record your reaction, which will then be displayed on the timelines of your followers with the tweet embedded in it.

Currently, this feature is in its testing period, available to select iOS users.

On top of that, Twitter is also testing a new composer bar, which will be located above the bottom navigation bar, and its aim is to replace the floating compose button, so that adding photos, videos, and starting a Space conversation can become easier. This feature is again up for testing on iOS (selected users).

And last but not least, recently we reported on the fact that Twitter will be changing its “Trusted Friends” feature (still in development) into a feature dubbed “Flock”. A Flock can contain up to 150 people.
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February 8, 2022

Twitter’s Trusted Friends feature is now called Flock

Last year, Twitter showed an early concept of a feature called Trusted Friends. As the name suggests, this feature allows you to tweet to a close group of friends, instead of spamming all your followers.

This pre-announced feature now has a new name – Flock. Reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi has dug up parts of the feature and posted examples on his Twitter page. As you can see from the screenshots, Twitter Flock allows users to add up to 150 people to this privileged group.

It’s worth noting that people will get a notification when they have been added to somebody’s Flock but won’t get one if they’ve been removed. The idea behind this feature is quite logical and it’s been implemented in other social networks such as Instagram (Close Friends).

Unfortunately, there’s no official information about a potential rollout date, or whether this feature will be available across all platforms from the get-go. Chances are you’d need to use the official Twitter app on your mobile to get the Flock feature (when it’s officially released).

Twitter keeps on adding new features lately, with the social network launching Super Follows and Safety Mode last Autumn, and finally starting to roll out the Twitter Spaces record and replay feature earlier this month.

January 26, 2022

CEO Jack Dorsey leaves Twitter “effective immediately”

Jack Dorsey, who co-founded the popular Twitter social media site back in 2006, is stepping down as CEO of the company effective immediately. Replacing Dorsey will be Twitter chief technology officer Parag Agrawal.

In a statement, Dorsey said, “I’ve decided to leave Twitter because I believe the company is ready to move on from its founders. My trust in Parag as Twitter’s CEO is deep. His work over the past 10 years has been transformational. I’m deeply grateful for his skill, heart, and soul. It’s his time to lead.”

The 45-year-old Dorsey is also CEO of Square, a mobile payments company he co-founded. Dorsey will remain a member of the Twitter board until his current term expires at the 2022 stockholders meeting. Salesforce President and COO Bret Taylor will take over from Patrick Pichette as Chairman of the Board. Pichette will remain on the board as chair of the Audit Committee.

The controversial social media site hopes to at least double its annual revenue by the end of 2023 while reporting 315 million monetizable daily active users by the end of that year. But these are goals that now are up to Mr. Agrawal to reach. As of last month, Twitter counted 206 million daily active users or 187 million monetizable daily active users worldwide. In the U.S., Twitter has 37 million monetizable daily active users.

Dorsey had been removed as CEO of Twitter in 2008 before returning in 2015 when Dick Costolo left. Since Dorsey’s return on October 5th, 2015, Twitter shares have risen 85%. Shares of Dorsey’s other public company, Square, have risen 1,566% since the firm went public on Nov. 19, 2015. Investors initially took Twitter shares 11% higher to 52.27. But the stock has given up all of its gains and is now down more than 1% for the day at $46.49.

Dorsey, as you might expect, took to his @jack Twitter page to confirm the news and to leave a long message to his followers. In it, Dorsey writes, “I want you all to know that this was my decision and I own it. It was a tough one for me, of course. I love this service and company … and all of you so much. I’m really sad … yet really happy. There aren’t many companies that get to this level. And there aren’t many founders that choose their company over their own ego. I know we’ll prove this was the right move.”

Twitter became known worldwide as the platform used by former President Donald Trump who used the platform to float policy, attack opponents, and comment on the world as he saw it. Using Twitter in this fashion allowed the public to get an unprecedented and transparent look at the thoughts of a president.

Twitter executive Vijaya Gadde, two months after Trump was inaugurated in 2017, said, “To me, there’s nothing better than having a political discourse in plain and open view and having access to your elected officials and being able to hold them accountable. In that sense, I think it’s a great thing because this wasn’t always possible before.” But Twitter permanently banned Trump on January 8th of this year, two days after the attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters who believed his lie about the election being stolen.

At the time, Twitter announced the ban with a statement that read, “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”

November 30, 2021

Elon Musk Sells $5 Billion In Tesla Shares After Twitter Poll

Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk sold about $5 billion in shares, the billionaire reported in filings on Wednesday, just days after he polled Twitter users about selling 10% of his stake. In his first share sale since 2016, Musk’s trust sold nearly 3.6 million shares in Tesla, worth around $4 billion, while he also sold another 934,000 shares for $1.1 billion after exercising options to acquire nearly 2.2 million shares. The 4.5 million shares equate to about 3% of his total holdings in the electric vehicle manufacturer, which makes up the vast part of his estimated $281.6 billion fortune, according to Forbes.

Musk on Saturday polled Twitter users about selling 10% of his stake, helping to push down Tesla’s share price after a majority on Twitter said they agreed with the sale. The stock sank 12% on Tuesday in a multi-day selloff that endangered the company’s position in the $1 trillion club, but recovered 4.3% on Wednesday.

The options-related sales were set up in September through a trading plan that allows corporate insiders to establish preplanned transactions on a schedule, the filing said. The sales of the option-related shares paid for associated taxes. It was not clear how or whether the trading plan related to Musk’s Twitter poll. Tesla did not respond to a request for comment.

The additional share sales were separate and provide Musk with sizeable reserves of cash, given his wealth is largely tied to his stakes in Tesla and SpaceX. Musk has more than 20 million further stock options that are due to expire in August of next year. If Musk carried out the 10% stock sale plan, it would be a slight negative near term, said Mark Arnold, chief investment officer at Hyperion Asset Management in Brisbane where Tesla is the top holding in its global fund. “But the stock is pretty liquid and its not a huge percentage of total issued shares, so it shouldn’t have that much of an impact … we’re quite comfortable with the outlook for the business,” he said.

While Tesla has lost close to $150 billion in market value this week, retail investors have been net buyers of the stock. Some 58% of Tesla trade orders on Fidelity’s brokerage website on Wednesday were for purchases, rather than sales. Retail investors made net purchases of $157 million on Monday and Tuesday, according to Vanda Research. Tesla is now up more than 51% in 2021, thanks largely to an October rally that was fueled by an agreement to sell 100,000 vehicles to rental car company Hertz.

“The company itself is on fire, with strong results,” said Tim Ghriskey, a senior portfolio strategist at New York-based investment management firm Ingalls and Snyder. Bullish sentiment returned to Tesla’s options on Wednesday, with about 1.1 calls traded for every put. Calls are typically used for bullish trades, while buying puts shows a bearish bias. The company’s options accounted for about $109 billion in premium changing hands over the last two weeks, or about one in every three dollars traded in the U.S.-listed options market, according to a Reuters analysis of Trade Alert data.

November 11, 2021

Twitter makes it easier to search through subscribers’ tweets on iOS

A new search icon has been discovered by XDA on the iOS version of the Twitter app. Tapping the magnifying glass icon at the top right corner of a subscriber’s Twitter page will search through the tweets posted by this person or account. It also can be used to go through your own tweets.

Using the new feature is a snap. Tap on the magnifying glass to reveal the search bar, and simply type in the terms of the search. In the example that we did below, our search term was TikTok.

That brought up a tweet that we posted late Friday night related to a story about a 16-year-old girl who used a hand gesture that she learned from watching TikTok. The gesture alerted someone in an automobile behind the one that the girl was a prisoner in, that something was not right and that the teen was in distress. Thanks to the hand gesture, the cops were alerted and used a traffic stop to arrest the 61-year-old driver.

The new feature is actually a shortcut for a feature that Twitter users running the iOS app can already do. By tapping the search icon at the bottom of the screen and typing in From:Username Term (which in the above example is PhoneArena TikTok), you’ll get the same results as if you had used the new tool.

November 8, 2021

Twitter testing edge-to-edge photos and videos for a more immersive visual experience

Twitter has been working on steadily adding new features to the social media platform in the past few months, and now, TechCrunch reports about a new feature that’s undergoing testing right now, and it is edge-to-edge tweets, photos, and videos. The latest test Twitter is currently working on brings a more immersive visual experience with the introduction of edge-to-edge tweets, a feature that’s tested only on iOS right now and will expand to Android later on. This improvement in the way photos and videos are displayed on the app is a part of the general direction the company is going: making your Twitter feed a more visually pleasing experience.

Earlier this year, Twitter introduced bigger images and more cropping tools to the platform as well, and this change was well received by photographers and photography enthusiasts, meaning to share their content on Twitter.

The test that’s ongoing now makes tweets fill the full frame from left to right, instead of having a large margin on the left. This change makes allows for larger videos and photos that look more visually pleasing and modern, instead of being squished to the right of users’ profile pics.

This way, Twitter says it wants to encourage its users to have conversations across photos and videos, and not only texting (which was the traditional approach the social media platform had).

In the announcement, Twitter stated the new immersive experience will bring life to your Twitter feed and will make it possible for you to concentrate your focus on your message, video, photo, whatever it is you want to share.

Recently, the social media giant introduced Twitter Spaces, which is a step towards bringing a better audio experience to the users, and it’s no surprise that with videos playing a more prominent role in social media interactions (as an example of which we can look at TikTok’s success and rising popularity as a video platform), Twitter is also ready to take on that route and bring more photo and video features.

Marketers are partial towards videos for advertisements, so more advertising possibilities could also be playing a role in this change Twitter is currently testing.

The most recent new feature Twitter has launched is the long-tested Super Follows feature and a new Safe Mode, which is meant to protect you against potentially offensive or harmful interactions (that is, if you enable it). Both these features are currently live for a small set of users, primarily in the US, and will be launched globally soon.

The Super Follows feature is, basically, a way to subscribe to a creator and receive exclusive content, something similar to Patreon’s pledges. Safe Mode on the other hand uses artificial intelligence to determine potentially harmful messages to you and restrict these users that are sending them. An example of that is someone you haven’t been replying to sending repetitive DMs in an aggressive manner, of course, if the feature has been enabled from Settings.

Apart from that, Twitter has been spotted to work on the feature to archive previous tweets, a welcome addition meant to help you get rid of old tweets that you don’t like, or just annoy you to be displayed on your profile. The feature will allow you to archive old tweets automatically, so you don’t have to worry about those. Once this feature, which is currently in a testing period, gets released, you will be able to set it up for 30, 60, or 90 days. It will archive these old tweets according to your settings.

September 8, 2021

Twitter launches Super Follows and Safety Mode

After a few months in beta, Twitter announced that it’s making Super Follows available to select users in the United States. Super Follows allows Twitter users to earn monthly revenue by sharing subscriber-only content with their followers on the social network.

Those interested can set a monthly subscription of $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 a month to monetize bonus content for their followers on Twitter. Creators can interact with their Super Followers by looking for the Super Followers badge. The public badges will be highlighted under their Super Followers name whenever they reply to a creator’s tweet.

For the time being, Super Follows is only available to a small group within the United States. However, those interested can apply to join the waitlist to set up a Super Follows subscription by swiping open the sidebar on the Home timeline, tapping on Monetization, then selecting Super Follows.

It’s important to mention that you need to have 10,000 or more followers, be at least 18 years old, and have tweeted 25 times within the last 30 days to be eligible for the waitlist. Obviously, you need to be in the United States too.

Currently, users in the United States and Canada on iOS can Super Follow select accounts, but Twitter says it will be rolling out the option to people using iOS globally in the next few weeks.

Additionally, Twitter announced that starting today, it’s rolling out Safety Mode, a new feature that promises to reduce disruptive interactions. Safety Mode is only pushed out to a small group of Twitter users on iOS, Android, and desktop, which have English-language settings enabled.

Safety Mode is meant to temporarily block accounts for seven days for using potentially harmful language or sending repetitive and uninvited replies or mentions. Those who get the feature must enable it from the Settings so that Twitter’s systems can assess any potential negative engagement.

Those who are found guilty of using harmful language in their tweets will be auto blocked, which means they’ll be temporarily unable to follow your account, see your tweets, or send you Direct Messages.

September 3, 2021

Twitter may display your Twitter Spaces listener status

Twitter Spaces is a fairly new addition to the popular bird-themed social media platform and was launched a few months ago in competition with the exploding Clubhouse app. Its function is very similar to Clubhouse: to provide voice chat rooms which people can host and join to have discussions about anything and everything. From music, to Bitcoin, or anime, or anything else—there’s a Twitter Space for every interest.

With Twitter Spaces growing in popularity, Twitter has been bringing new features to them—such as a variety of voice filters, web browser support, and easier management features for Space hosts. Yesterday, Twitter announced that it is also testing out the ability for Twitter users to display to their followers which Spaces they’re listening to.

Such a feature would be a further extension of the already existing ability to show your followers which Spaces you’re currently hosting, or even currently speaking in. If you’ve only joined a space a listener, however, your status as a listener is unable to be showed on your profile

As a listener, you have the ability to react to the conversation with emojis, follow along with live captions, as well as Tweet or send direct messages to the Space—so it would be a nice addition to have your listener status displayed on your profile, so that any interested followers can join and listen along with you. In the Twitter post announcing that the platform is working on implementing this feature, the company said that it was currently “experimenting with ways to help you discover more Spaces.”

This hints that it’s not a guarantee that we’ll be seeing it rolled out to all everyone on the platform in the future, and Twitter also asked for users to send over their thoughts on the matter. If the response is overwhelmingly positive, it’s most likely we’ll see the option to display our listener status in Twitter Spaces sometime in the future.

August 26, 2021

Facebook, Google, Twitter considering quiting Hong Kong

US tech giants Facebook, Google, and Twitter have privately warned the Hong Kong government that they could stop offering their services in the city if authorities proceed with planned changes to data protection laws, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing a letter.

The laws could make the tech companies liable for the malicious sharing of individuals’ information online, the newspaper added.

A letter sent by an industry group that includes the internet firms said companies are concerned that the planned rules to address “doxing” could put their staff at risk of criminal investigations or prosecutions related to what the firms’ users post online, Journal reported.

Doxing is an act of revealing people’s personal information such as real name, home address or workplace online without the user’s permission.

Facebook, Google, and Twitter did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

Hong Kong’s Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau in May proposed amendments to the city’s data-protection laws that it said were needed to combat doxing, a practice that was prevalent during 2019 protests in the city, the newspaper said.

According to the newspaper, the letter dated June 25 was sent by the Singapore-based Asia Internet Coalition.

“The only way to avoid these sanctions for technology companies would be to refrain from investing and offering the services in Hong Kong,” the Journal reported, quoting the letter.

July 6, 2021

Twitter shows off a trio of design concepts that might be added to the app some day

Twitter has revealed three different design concepts that it is thinking about adding to its regular social media service. One is called “Trusted Friends” and would allow a Twitter subscriber to limit the number of people that can access a particular tweet to a small group of buddies and relatives. “Facets” would allow users to categorize the tweets that they are interested in, and the third feature allows users to choose which phrases they would prefer not to see in their replies.

None of the three features are considered to be inactive development which means that they are not available to Twitter users at the moment. With “Trusted Friends,” users can choose via a toggle switch whether a tweet they send is for public consumption or just for friends and family. Facets will allow a Twitter subscriber to separate tweets into different categories such as “professional” tweets, “personal” tweets, and tweets divided up by hobbies or other interests.

With Facets, Twitter says that you’ll be able to choose to follow tweets from Twitter users only when they are related to a specific topic that you’re following; this way you won’t have to follow every tweet disseminated by someone you’re following. Think about how much time you might save by restricting the tweets you receive to only those of interest to you.

The last feature, as we noted in the first paragraph, allows a Twitter subscriber to block certain phrases. In an example released by Twitter, the author of a tweet has asked Twitter to block profanities from the responses he receives from his tweets including the phrase “asshole.” Twitter says that profanity can be harmful and following the requests of the user, tweets including profanities are moved to the bottom of the conversation, out of view for most people.

Twitter is hoping that by releasing this information about potential new design concepts well before they are being actively considered, feedback from Twitter uses can be generated to help the social media firm determine whether they are on the right track when it comes to improving the app. Note that the images released by Twitter say “Concept only” on the top.

July 5, 2021