Twitter presents the “circle”: users will be able to share tweets with a small group of followers | Technology

Twitter has launched this Tuesday the beta phase of a tool called the “circle”, with which it intends that users feel more comfortable when uploading content. With it, they can decide whether to share the tweet with the circle or with all their followers. Up to 150 people may be included in this circle, which may be changed at any time without notifying the members of the list of the change. The option to share it with a larger or smaller group of followers will appear before each tweet is published.

Few users of this platform will be unaware of a situation in which, after being encouraged to participate in a debate, they have been the subject of a cascade of unpleasant and even disrespectful comments from tweeters they don’t even know. Until now, when faced with something like this, they could choose to block, although the blocked could very easily notice it, so it was not very subtle. And they could also report a comment or mute the conversation.

The circle complements other resources that the company has been incorporating in recent times: the option of remove followerswhich is available in the web version and is used to prevent them from noticing (as occurs with blocks) and to change who can respond to a certain conversation mid-dialogue, in case the conversations take an unwanted turn.

Also in the testing phase is the so-called unmention (the withdrawal of mentions), which allows you to leave conversations in which you are mentioned, but no longer want to participate. “With the circle, you have the flexibility to choose who can see your content and interact with it, tweet by tweet,” insists the company.

The new tool is another step in Twitter’s strategy to make it easier for users to avoid uncomfortable situations and leave conversations or disassociate themselves from users with whom they no longer want to interact. According to the Californian company, these developments can be useful for those who do not want to create a secondary account or change their profile settings between public or private (a fairly common option until now when a user was involved in a conflict and wanted to prevent others from mention him again or respond to his posts).

In line with the circle, for a few months, users have also had communities at their disposal, a series of groups in which their members can upload tweets that they do not share with their followers. Communities are often thematic, such as that of the Eurovision fans oa the kitchen or the professionals from certain sectors. These groups have a series of rules that all members must comply with (such as respecting the opinions of others or not discriminating against anyone). If they don’t, they can be expelled from them. For that, each one has moderators.

Over the last few months, Twitter has also been testing a safe mode with temporary (seven-day) automatic bans, which the user can undo if they think the algorithms have made a mistake and have not properly interpreted the tone or content. of a conversation.

Both the new circle and the communities may involve a risk: that the user is no longer exposed to all series of opinions by reducing their interactions to a group of people with similar ideas to theirs, who will only reinforce their already ingrained beliefs. Each user can decide which tools they use and which ones they don’t, but, with the intention of staying away from certain conversations, they could find themselves in a kind of bubble almost without realizing it; something that is also helped by the algorithms used by this and other platforms to recommend content similar to those you have liked.

The platform recently acquired by tycoon Elon Musk is not the first to provide users with this type of tool so that they can choose with whom to share each publication. On Instagram, the ability to share stories (images or videos that are available on the user’s profile for 24 hours) with only “best friends” has been available for several years. This option has allowed users of the image network to enjoy greater freedom and upload content that they would not share with all their followers, among whom there are often people they do not know directly.

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