All digital platforms regularly change. Sometimes new features are added, sometimes old ones are taken away, or there is often a degree of experiment associated in finding out what works for the platforms and their audiences. As a digital marketing company, we think it is important to keep our own audience updated on changes that occur not only to our industry, but the tools and mediums within it. Our latest blog post looks at a recent modification to the twitter platform.
Twitter has recently introduced what can be described as an audience limiter. Previously, a tweet could be viewed by anyone on the platform, but the change now means that if users wish, they can limit this to a maximum of 150 users and no one else will see. The account holder decides who the favoured 150 users are and once the thing is set, it will then apply. Research on this announcement tells us that this currently only applies to ‘some’ twitter users. We have taken that to mean that because this is something new which has just been rolled out, it hasn’t had chance to apply to everyone yet. We have not seen anything that seems to suggest that this is going to be a selective only feature, so if you don’t see the option on your platform at the moment, chances are you will soon.
As alluded to above, there is quite little known about this feature at the moment. We are sure that Twitter will release more information in due course. Some of the things we do understand about it however include:
* People can be added or deleted into this vetted circle of 150.
* Only the people on the list will be able to view any tweets you release and reply to those tweets.
* If you later decide you want to take someone out of the circle of 150, they will not receive a message to say they have been removed.
What is the purpose or point of this?
Chances are this is probably one of your biggest questions in response to this change. Many will quite rightly and logically argue that the whole point of social media platforms (including Twitter,) is to reach the masses and as many target audiences as possible. Somehow placing a limit on numbers therefore, seems to be at odds with this notion. One possible explanation is that social media platforms can be quite open places and it is because of this openness that toxicity can become a problem. Not everyone is nice and not everyone plays nicely, that is just a simple fact of life that no one can change. The thinking is therefore that this recent change is a step to try and address that by keeping only vetted people on some kind of safe list, never not having to worry about anyone else.
Will it have an impact?
It is definitely a step in the right direction, but whether it will be enough to make an impact remains to be seen. Many people have left social media platforms because of the dangerous places they have sometimes become. Whether these sorts of steps will tempt people back will also remain to be seen!
Interested in finding out how we can help your social media campaigns? Visit our dedicated section now.