Twitter Circle Features Goes Live Globally, Letting You Create Your Own Online Cliques
Twitter isn't exactly known for being ahead of the curve when it comes to offering new features. But for some
Ivy Griffith
Twitter isn't exactly known for being ahead of the curve when it comes to offering new features. But for some users, the glacial progress is a benefit.
Now though, a new feature has come to Twitter, and global users can try it out: Twitter Circle. Here are the details.
See: Instagram Rolling Back 'TikTok Wannabe' Test Features After Huge Backlash
Twitter Circle Goes Live
giving you all Twitter Circle because sometimes your Tweets aren’t for everyone
— Twitter (@Twitter) August 30, 2022
add up to 150 people to yours and use it. please. pic.twitter.com/D6AE4OhRX5
Twitter took to their own platform to announce the new feature today, with a little humor. The announcement read, "giving you all Twitter Circle because sometimes your Tweets aren’t for everyone
add up to 150 people to yours and use it. please."
Some users immediately poked fun at the idea that their timelines would suddenly be empty as people separate their most valued followers into exclusive groups.
Others celebrated the possibility of exclusive spaces where they can cut out trolls and enjoy their time with fewer combative interactions.
The feature was a result of the development team brainstorming ways to make the platform more "approachable."
Today reports the words of Jay Sullivan, general manager of Consumer and Revenue Product at Twitter, lead of the team that created Circle. "'We know that tweeting can sometimes feel a little intimidating and overwhelming, especially for new users of the platform," he said. "So one of the things that I've been focused on leading our product team is making Twitter more approachable for people. And the way I think of this is this idea of experiencing Twitter on your own terms, meaning the way that you want.'
Sullivan said Twitter Circles can do that in allowing users to add certain followers to an intimate group for more personal conversations that they may not want to have on the public timeline."
You have feelings and thoughts that you want to share, without having to second guess, 'Is some random person going to make me feel badly about this?' Or, 'They don't know me that well, so they don't know my humor and my nuances. … The thing that we were hearing about this is people really felt like they were finding their groove when it came to tweeting without the pressure of doing it on the public timeline. And that really told us, wow, there is something to this idea of giving people that choice and control and Twitter on their own terms. So we felt really excited to bring it to everybody.
Users create their Circle in settings, then choose that as an option before posting a Tweet. It functions similar to Facebook's "audience" options.
Is Twitter Circle a Good Thing or an Exclusion-Maker?
Like any exclusive spaces, Twitter Circle has its benefits and its drawbacks.
For many, having a more controlled experience and group setting will allow them to interact in safer spaces that preserve the quality of their time on the platform.
But others could find themselves shut out of friend circles, interest circles – or perhaps worse – forced to buy into them.
How Twitter Circle shakes down and whether or not it becomes a positive feature is a current unknown, but it's not uncommon that social media platforms change or add features and then walk them back after they become unpopular. Facebook, for instance, has retooled the Timeline feature multiple times, and nearly got rid of it altogether after users became furious at its introduction in 2011. Luckily in that case, users did eventually adjust to the change and its now a Facebook staple it would be hard to imagine the site without.
Meta's other big baby Instagram was not so lucky. After they trialed a "TikTok wannabe" feature that tried to capitalize on TikTok's popularity, Instagram was forced to reassess and make plans to roll back the changes after a backlash from big Influencers and users alike.
Twitter, a separate company that doesn't share the Meta umbrella with Facebook and Instagram, has been slow to change features, which is just how users like it. But sometimes keeping things the same means missing out on important progress such as the long-elusive edit button (coming soon).