Why Twitter Should add an edit feature
When Kim Kardashian sent an email to the CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorney on July 23rd 2015, little did she know that she was expressing the deep yearnings of several million users of Twitter. Kim, being a member of the Twitter elite group wrote "I just emailed Twitter to see if they can add an edit feature so that when you misspell something, you don't have to delete & repost. Let's see..." Fortunately, she received an encouraging response from Jack when he wrote "Great ideas! We're always looking for ways to make things faster and easier". Fast forward to 2017, Twitter is yet to have an edit feature. Here are some reasons to support Kim's request for an edit feature to be added to Twitter: #1. Adding an edit feature will prevent false information from going viral. As it is now, Twitter doesn't have an edit feature that permits its users to correct wrong information. Once tweeted, the information goes viral across the globe. A good example is the case of the man considered to be a "suspect" in the Dallas police shootings. The Dallas police department had tweeted the public to help track the man, only to discover later that he was innocent. Though, his picture was later deleted, but that was after it had been retweeted by over 40,000 people. An edit feature on Twitter would have allowed the Dallas Police Department to clarify issues as regards the innocence of the "suspect" and NOT just put an end to its spread. Consequently, such correction would have featured in other messages, new stories, and other social media platforms that the tweet was embedded in. Not counting the embedded mails and news stories around the world. #2. It will help correct misspelled words. Kim's request for an edit feature though, reflective of the populace yearning came after she had misspelled the name of a famous fashion icon, Giorgio Armani in a tweet. Had there been an edit feature on twitter, she would have been able to edit the mistake, and prevent it from been retweeted by her over 33 million followers. At present, tweeters have to stick to live with their mistakes, knowing there is little or nothing that can be done to correct it. Also, we stick to wrong posts and misspelled words in order not to lose out on retweets by our followers, shares and likes. Leaving wrongly spelt words without deleting them is done in a bid to avert any confusion that the vacuum created by the deleting such posts, may create for others. #3. Introducing an edit feature will help correct grammatical errors. Androids and smart phones with swipe alternative to typing, make the users prone to grammatical errors. Unfortunately, once typed and tweeted, such grammatical errors can't be corrected. An example is the face-off between Nicki Minaj, and Taylor Swift over Minaj's VMA nomination snub. Kate Perry's tweet also had grammatical mistakes which couldn't be corrected because there is no edit feature on Twitter. Deleting such a tweet however is like trying to correct or cover one's mistake with a mystery. A mystery that rips the likes, shares and comments of their meaning and context. Such a mystery has a deep implication as the news stories, emails and other posts in which such tweets with grammatical errors are embedded get affected. Though, much has been said about the possibility of some criminal-minded individuals to take advantage of the proposed edit feature -- if introduced -- that doesn't mean that the feature should be neglected. Some feel being able to edit a tweet may create room for entertainers or politicians to cover their tracks thereby re-writing history. I don't think so. Twitter could develop the edit feature in such a way that the old and the corrected tweets would be available for us to see. The old incorrect tweets would be marked as such and the new corrected version indicated as such. We would then be able to identify and appreciate the user for the efforts taken to correct their posts. But then, we can only keep our fingers crossed and hope that the edit feature is eventually added because it will indeed make "...things faster and easier".
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