Twitter’s new Edit Tweet feature: How will it work, when can you start using it

The ‘Edit Tweet’ feature will first be rolled out to select Twitter Blue users. The service is limited to the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, so those of us in India will have to wait for now.

Twitter says the slow rollout is to ensure that the platform can identify and resolve potential issues, before ‘editing a tweet’ becomes an option for all users. (Reuters)

It’s finally here, but you can’t access it just yet. Twitter is letting select users test the ‘Edit Tweet’ feature. The feature will let users edit their tweets after publishing, to fix errors like typos. But how does the ‘Edit Tweet’ option work, and who will get access to it? We explain.

What is the ‘Edit Tweet’ option? Can I access it right now?

Edit Tweet, as the name suggests, will let a user edit any tweet after it has been posted. The feature will first be rolled out to select Twitter Blue users. Twitter Blue is the company’s select subscription service, which gives access to some premium features. The service is limited to the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, so those of us in India will have to wait for now.

In a blog post, the social company said that Twitter Blue users will receive early access to the feature next month. The test will be localised to a single country at first and expand as the company learns and observes how people use ‘Edit Tweet’.

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Why is the option being rolled out for a select group of users?

Twitter says the slow rollout is to ensure that the platform can identify and resolve potential issues, before ‘editing a tweet’ becomes an option for all users. It is hoping to get more feedback and also potential misuse cases from the select group of users early on in the testing.

if you see an edited Tweet it’s because we’re testing the edit button

this is happening and you’ll be okay

— Twitter (@Twitter) September 1, 2022

Can I edit all my old tweets once this becomes public for all?

No. Twitter will not let you edit old tweets. You will only be able to edit a tweet upto 30 minutes after it is posted. The social media giant will allow multiple edits to a tweet in this time span.

The company’s post further notes, “edited tweets will appear with an icon, timestamp, and label so it’s clear to readers that the original tweet has been modified.”

If a user taps on the label, they will be taken to the edit history of the tweet, which will show the original tweet. Twitter says the time limit and version history play an important role to add context to edited tweets. The history will also “help protect the integrity of the conversation”, according to Twitter. The idea is also to “create a publicly accessible record of what was said,” it added.