Twitter is testing an 'Unmention' feature – the next best thing to an 'Edit' button
Don't like the Twitter convo? You may soon be able to leave a tweet thread
The forthcoming Twitter Blue-bound edit button is the long-awaited experiment that made news this week along with Elon Musk’s 9.2% stake and board seat at the social media company. But, Twitter hasn’t been developing it alone. Today, Twitter decided to mention it’s also testing an Unmention button, which some users can try out now.
This privacy-focused feature lets you exit tweets (especially useful when it’s a thread) if someone tags you in a conversation you want no part of. Simply mouse-clicking (it’s web-only for now, says Twitter Safety) on the ‘Leave Conversation'“ option will unlink your Twitter handle from the thread and stop pinging you with notifications.
Right now, for everyone outside of this experiment, the only remedy has been to tap on ‘Mute this conversation,” which doesn’t go far enough for most people wanting out.
Ways in which Twitter Unmentioning helps
Twitter calls Unmentionng “a way to help you protect your peace of mind and remove yourself from conversations.”
This translates into three distinct use cases I can think of right away:
Popular or targeted accounts can stop seeing SPAM or toxic messages in which other Twitter users tag them for no good reason.
When two or more people are arguing back and forth, you can dip (this actually happened to me today during a PS5 restock debate. All I could do was watch).
Giveaways and contests that ask followers to tag a friend won’t have to involve you if you don’t want them to.
Not everyone is seeing this web-limited test of the Twitter Unmentioning feature, and the holy grail, the Twitter edit button, seems even further out. It’s said to be launching ”in the coming months” though to paid Twitter Blue subscribers initially.