Twitter’s introducing a new label that allows users to distinguish between bots and other users on the platform. Devs are introducing emoji reacts to tweets for users in Turkey. Finally, news has been revealed of Twitter allowing users to flag their own content with the tags of “nudity”, “violence”, “sensitive”, or variations of the three.
Let’s start our breakdown of this slew of updates with the bots. Twitter is notorious for being a platform that is rife with bots. Some are relatively harmless, only leaving advertisements plastered all over discussions, regardless of any relevant link to the original thread in the first place. Some are more malicious, attempting to sign naïve individuals up for pyramid schemes or exploiting them via phishing attacks. Much worse is the fact that, as technology progresses, AI bots get better and better at appearing innocuous. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey even raised such concerns when addressing the Senate Intelligence Committee. However, the company has finally decided on finding a solution via “Automated” labels that will identify bot accounts. Twitter has no overall problem with bots, having even celebrated some useful ones such as those updating individuals about COVID vaccines or earthquakes in their area. The label will, however, help pull the more unsavory ones to light.
The second update involves Twitter’s user base in Turkey. The community there will, for a limited time, be able to use emojis as reactions to the tweets they encounter. The emojis will include the very typical fodder encountered in any online space, more specifically including the laughing with tears, the heart, the clapping hands, the sad face, and the interested face. Other social media platforms have widely popularized the concept of reacting with the use of emojis, with Facebook and Instagram being prime examples of the concept. Facebook’s initial introduction of reacts to posts wasn’t necessarily something that was universally adopted, but Twitter seems to be looking for some way or another to keep its community invested in the platform.
Now, let’s move on to the final entry in our updates. Social media researcher Jane Manchun Wong has recently posted screenshots on her Twitter profile, showing that users can now flag their own content with certain tags. Content can be tagged as comprising of nudity, violence, or being sensitive as a whole. It’s a feature by which Twitter empowers its community to control their own content, instead of having it be flagged by Twitter’s AI for content that is appropriate to the user’s own account. The feature isn’t widely released yet, and is probably still under beta testing.
Read next: Twitter Introduces A New Communities Feature To Engage More Users
Let’s start our breakdown of this slew of updates with the bots. Twitter is notorious for being a platform that is rife with bots. Some are relatively harmless, only leaving advertisements plastered all over discussions, regardless of any relevant link to the original thread in the first place. Some are more malicious, attempting to sign naïve individuals up for pyramid schemes or exploiting them via phishing attacks. Much worse is the fact that, as technology progresses, AI bots get better and better at appearing innocuous. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey even raised such concerns when addressing the Senate Intelligence Committee. However, the company has finally decided on finding a solution via “Automated” labels that will identify bot accounts. Twitter has no overall problem with bots, having even celebrated some useful ones such as those updating individuals about COVID vaccines or earthquakes in their area. The label will, however, help pull the more unsavory ones to light.
The second update involves Twitter’s user base in Turkey. The community there will, for a limited time, be able to use emojis as reactions to the tweets they encounter. The emojis will include the very typical fodder encountered in any online space, more specifically including the laughing with tears, the heart, the clapping hands, the sad face, and the interested face. Other social media platforms have widely popularized the concept of reacting with the use of emojis, with Facebook and Instagram being prime examples of the concept. Facebook’s initial introduction of reacts to posts wasn’t necessarily something that was universally adopted, but Twitter seems to be looking for some way or another to keep its community invested in the platform.
1/ Şimdi belirli bir süre için Türkiye'de Twitter Reaksiyonlarını test ediyoruz. Bunu gördüğünüzde, gerçekten ne düşündüğünüzü bize bildirmek için Beğen'e uzunca basın 🤔😢😂👏❤️ pic.twitter.com/a6jXp8DdR6
— Twitter Türkiye (@TwitterTurkiye) September 9, 2021
Now, let’s move on to the final entry in our updates. Social media researcher Jane Manchun Wong has recently posted screenshots on her Twitter profile, showing that users can now flag their own content with certain tags. Content can be tagged as comprising of nudity, violence, or being sensitive as a whole. It’s a feature by which Twitter empowers its community to control their own content, instead of having it be flagged by Twitter’s AI for content that is appropriate to the user’s own account. The feature isn’t widely released yet, and is probably still under beta testing.
Twitter is working on letting people flag media as Nudity, Violence and/or Sensitive while composing the Tweet https://t.co/JtrO1bUJyz pic.twitter.com/Bi0qBGKYif
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) September 9, 2021
Read next: Twitter Introduces A New Communities Feature To Engage More Users
