Dive Brief:
- After pushback against its hands-off policy on tweets, Twitter is now giving users more control over what they see in their timelines.
- The new privacy settings allow all users to block tweets from random users and filter tweets from accounts Twitter has flagged for suspicious activity or low-quality content.
- The features were previously only available to verified users. The changes are available in “notification settings” within the platform.
Two simple settings to give you better control over your Twitter experience. https://t.co/pEJuMUhCYs pic.twitter.com/jmFd0rDoV6
— Twitter Support (@Support) August 18, 2016
Dive Insight:
After facing criticism for allowing abusive tweets on its platform to go unchecked, Twitter will allow users to block content from unknown users and change the quality filter settings for their feed, minimizing tweets from accounts that Twitter has flagged for suspicious activity or low-quality content.
“Last year we began testing a quality filter setting and we’re now rolling out a feature for everyone," Emil Leong, product manager at Twitter, wrote in a blog post. "When turned on, the filter can improve the quality of Tweets you see by using a variety of signals, such as account origin and behavior. Turning it on filters lower-quality content, like duplicate Tweets or content that appears to be automated, from your notifications and other parts of your Twitter experience. It does not filter content from people you follow or accounts you’ve recently interacted with – and depending on your preferences, you can turn it on or off in your notifications settings.”
The change should help improve the quality of users' Twitter feeds. Twitter has been actively rolling out new features to entice new users and advertising dollars after a disappointing last year.
