Twitter has at long last begun testing an edit button, after many years of users clamoring for the feature. But the edit button will only be available for Twitter Blue subscribers, the price of which is nearly doubling on October 1 to $4.99 per month.
Twitter is quick to remind users that this is only a test of the feature — even the company’s blog post on the matter is titled, “This is a test of Twitter’s new Edit Tweet feature. This is only a test.” The feature is planned to roll out to Twitter Blue subscribers in the coming weeks.
Now that the Edit Tweet function is finally making its big premiere, we just have one more question: What will Twitter users gripe for now that their long-awaited feature has arrived?
There are limits —
Though Twitter will no longer be quite so permanent as it once was, you’re not just going to be able to rewrite history at your every whim. The first caveat, of course, is that you must be willing to pay $4.99 per month for the feature.
For now, at least, edits will only be open for 30 minutes after a tweet’s publication. Twitter says you’ll only be able to edit “a few times” in that half hour. Edited tweets will come with a blue icon and labeled timestamp so it’s immediately obvious the tweet isn’t in its original state. Tapping that timestamp will bring you to the tweet’s edit history, complete with past versions and their own timestamps.
These limitations, Twitter says, are all about maintaining truth across the platform. “They help protect the integrity of the conversation and create a publicly accessible record of what was said,” the company writes in its announcement post.
Getting that cash —
Only a small subset of users will be able to edit tweets for now; all other Twitter Blue subscribers will have access later this month.
It’s no accident that the most-requested feature of all time is rolling out just as Twitter Blue is set to receive a hefty price hike. The subscription service, which right now gives access to features like undoing tweets and cleaning up threaded conversations, will be much more enticing with the Edit Tweet feature as part of its package.
