Editing a tweet using Twitter’s upcoming edit button can leave a digital trace of your tweets history, according to reverse engineer Jane Manchun Wong. IN a tweetManchun Wong explains that the editing feature appears to have an “unchanging” quality, meaning that Twitter can create a brand new tweet once one has been edited, all while retaining previous versions of that tweet.
“It seems that Twitter’s approach to Edit Tweet is unchangeable, as instead of mutating the tweet text within the same tweet (same ID), it recreates a new tweet with the changed content along with the list of previous tweets by. that editing, “says Manchun Wong.
It seems that Twitter’s approach to Edit Tweet is unchangeable, as instead of mutating the tweet text within the same tweet (same ID), it restores a new tweet with the changed content along with the list of the old tweets before it editing
Jane Manchun Wong @wongmjane April 16, 2022
Som Manchun Wong notes, it’s unclear what a tweets’ editing history will look like to users, or whether it will at all. However, if Twitter decides to publish the tweet story, it could be a way to address concerns about potential misuse of the feature, as some critics believe it could be used to change public registration and mislead users.
App researcher Alessandro Paluzzi too tweeted out what appear to be screenshots of the new feature that gives us a glimpse of what the edit button might actually look like when live on Twitter. In one screen, Paluzzi shows how the “Edit tweet” option can be displayed in the three-dot menu on the right side of your tweets.
Selection of the button leads you to a screen similar to the regular tweet composer, only it is filled in with your tweets text and says “Refresh” in the lower right corner instead of “Tweet”. However, Paluzzi’s screenshots do not show an opportunity to view a tweets’ editing history.
Twitter has not yet confirmed the presence of a tweet story tracker. “Nothing else to share at the moment beyond what is in this Tweet from @TwitterComms and this Tweet from @JaySullivanVP of Consumer Product, ”said Twitter spokeswoman Anna Hubatsch in an email to The edge.
Twitter first announced it was working on the coveted edit button earlier this month, after apparently joke with the feature on April Fool’s joke. But just before Twitter’s official confirmation, Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk asked his followers for an edit button after revealing his purchase of a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter, becoming Twitter’s largest individual shareholder. It’s been a whirlwind of events since then, when Musk came along and left Twitter’s board, then offered to buy the entire company. Twitter shareholders are currently trying to block Musk’s buyout with the poison pill method.