Twitter Now Lets Users Limit Replies To Their Tweets

Twitter is rolling out a feature that will allow users to limit who can reply to their tweets. The feature is now available to Twitter users across the globe.

Microblogging site Twitter previously tested a feature that lets users limit who will be allowed to reply to their tweets. At the time, the update was tested only on a small number of users globally. Less than three months later, the feature has been found to be successful and is now being rolled out to everyone.

In a blog entry, Twitter's director of product management, Suzanne Xie, announced that the new conversation settings can be used by “everyone” starting Tuesday. The exec said the feature has been helpful to many users, allowing them to engage in “safer” and “more meaningful conversations” with other Twitter users without having to shut down another person's point of view.

Xie said the feature helped users “feel more comfortable Tweeting and more protected from spam and abuse.” It was able to block out unwanted noise in the reply threads and prevented ”an average of three potentially abusive replies while adding only one potentially abusive Retweet with Comment.”

The feature did make for a safer Twitter. The heightened feeling of safety that the feature gave users resulted in more meaningful conversations on the platform, the product management director said.

Users who take advantage of the feature are now sharing more of their thoughts using longer tweets. Some who use the new settings also feel emboldened to talk about sensitive conversations regarding politics and social issues.

“We’ve seen people use these settings to have conversations that weren't really possible before,” Xie said.

Here's how the new feature works:

Before a user posts a tweet, he or she can choose who will be allowed to reply. There are three options: “everyone,” “people you follow” and “only people you mention.”

• “ Everyone” is the traditional Twitter setting. It allows anybody to reply to the user's tweet.
• “ People you follow” limits replies to whoever the Twitter user follows.
• “ Only people you mention” limits replies to the Twitter users specifically mentioned in the user's tweet.

Tweets with the latter two settings will be labeled, and the reply button will be grayed out for those who are not allowed to reply. Those who cannot reply will only be able to view the tweets, retweet, retweet with a comment, share and like these tweets.