Tag: edit button

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter might give everyone the ability to edit tweets

There’s been much debate over Musk’s plan to jack up the cost of Twitter Blue and make it a requirement for verification on Twitter. However, new details suggest Twitter could make one of the best Blue features available to everyone: the edit button.

As reported by Casey Newton in his Platformer newsletter (paywalled), internal company discussions detail a plan to give all users the ability to edit tweets. After years of jokes, memes, and desperate requests, Twitter finally added an edit button but locked it behind the ‘Blue’ subscription service.

Alongside a free edit button, Newton reported that Twitter is considering a $99 USD annual plan for Twitter Blue to go alongside the proposed $8/mo USD price increase proposed by Musk.

Initially, reports indicated Twitter would increase the cost of Blue to $20/mo USD and make verified users (designated with a blue checkmark) sign up for Blue to keep their verification. However, after much backlash, Musk suggested the $8/mo price instead.

Musk has also gone on to tweet additional details of the new Blue program, although seemingly without any thought to the work involved in building the proposed features. The list includes priority for replies, mentions, and search, the ability to post long videos and audio, and “half as many ads.” Moreover, Musk mentioned a “paywall bypass” for publishers willing to work with Twitter, which notably was already a feature of Blue that apparently the company is shutting down.

On the one hand, it’ll be great to have editable tweets available for the masses (anyone can make a typo, after all). On the other, editable tweets is one of the few worthwhile features of Twitter Blue, which is about to see a big price hike. It seems strange to me that Twitter would give away the edit button while trying to force people to pay for verification.

For the latest on Musk x Twitter, check out all the MobileSyrup coverage here.

Source: Platformer, @CaseyNewton

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Mobile Syrup

Elon Musk joins Twitter’s board of directors until 2024

After buying a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter and becoming the platform’s largest shareholder, Tesla CEO and terminally online, middle-aged man Elon Musk will join Twitter’s board of directors.

According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing spotted by The Verge, Twitter appointed Musk as a ‘class II’ director until 2024. The Verge notes that type of position can be used as an anti-takeover measure.

“For so long as Mr. Musk is serving on the Board and for 90 days thereafter, Mr. Musk will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of the Company’s common stock outstanding at such time, including for these purposes economic exposure through derivative securities, swaps, or hedging transactions,” reads the filing.

Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal took to the platform to welcome Musk to the board, calling him “both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service.”

In a reply, Musk wrote that he was excited to work with the board and “make significant improvements to Twitter in coming months.”

It’s worth noting that Musk has previously accused Twitter of “failing to adhere to free speech principles” while contemplating creating a new platform. Given Musk’s failure to understand what free speech actually is, I have concerns about these incoming “improvements.”

That said, in yet another attempt to prove he’s cool, Musk launched a Twitter poll asking if people want an edit button with the seemingly deliberately misspelled options of “yse” or “on.”

Plus, Agrawal jumped on, noting that the “consequences of this poll will be important,” suggesting the company may actually add an edit button.

So, maybe we’ll get something good out of Musk joining the Twitter board.

Source: Twitter, SEC Via: The Verge