Twitter has launched a new tool that helps protect its users from anti-vaccination misinformation, the company has announced. The tool targets certain keywords that may expose users to anti-vax materials, including 'vaccine,' and it works by directing the user to the government website Vaccines.gov. The tool was launched in partnership with the US Department of Health & Human Services.
Often times you only hear of bugs or even "features" that violate users' privacy after someone reports it on the Internet. Often times the companies involved have to deal with the PR mess and backlash involved after the fact. Perhaps learning from its peers, Twitter has decided to beat others to the news and own up to its own privacy blunder. While it doesn't exactly excuse them from making such a simple misstep, it has to at least be complemented for not waiting until the last minute to come clean.
Sometimes you can say more with a single image can say more than a few words, especially if you're on a 280-character limit. Even with Twitter's expanded quota, some expressions are best shown rather than told. You can already reply to tweets with more than just text but what if you wanted to share the original tweet as well? Well then whip up your phone and begin hunting for the appropriate GIF because now you can include those in retweets, too.
Twitter has acquired Highly, a service that enables users to easily share quotes from articles on social media. In light of the acquisition, Highly plans to shut down its Slack and iOS apps later this month, though existing highlights from users will remain live. Highly was founded in 2014 and has proven fairly popular in the years it has operated.
Earlier this year, Twitter said it planned to offer a new feature that allowed users to hide replies on their tweets. The moderation tool will potentially cut down on the number of unrelated and unwanted replies on tweets, joining the existing -- and more drastic -- mute, block, and report features. In a new update on its latest efforts to reduce abuse on its platform, Twitter said it will release the new ability this summer.
Last month, Twitter rolled out a new app called twttr, which it'll use to test prototype features before they come to the live service. With the prototype app turning a month old, Twitter has decided to roll out some new features to it. Some of these are new features that need to be tested, while others are making the jump from the main Twitter app to make twttr users feel a little more at home.
Twitter has just reduced the number of accounts its users can follow in a single day, the company has announced, but don't worry. The change isn't meant to impact you or any other legit Twitter user. Instead, this new limitation is targeted at the spammers who need to quickly follow large numbers of accounts, constantly following and unfollowing users while hoping to avoid being spotted.
Although Twitter has mostly survived unscathed amid the flood of privacy and safety scandals that have rocked Facebook and most social media at large, it has its own fair share of problems it has so far failed to address sufficiently. The brevity and spontaneity it encourages come at the price of control and moderation. As part of its attempts to remedy that, it is testing a new feature in Twitter conversations that will clearly label who's who in replies.
Even the best of us sometimes say something we later regret or are interpreted as offensive. Usually, a retraction and an apology is enough. On Twitter, however, you have to fill up an online form and twiddle your thumbs waiting for your account to be reinstated if the powers that be allowed it. Now Twitter is making that process easier by letting you do it all in the app. And, hopefully, it will also take Twitter less time to process those appeals as it has promised.
Dark or night modes are trending these days. More than just nice to look at or easy on the eyes, such dark colors have been proven to add a few minutes or even hours to battery life, especially on devices with OLED screens. Not all dark modes are equal, however, and some are more blue than black. Twitter's existing Night Mode is one such example, which is why the social networking giant is now rolling out a new "Lights Out" mode that really brings out the blacks on your screen.
Twitter has confirmed that it is working on a subscription feature that will enable users to subscribe to specific conversations, providing a cleaner, simpler alternative to liking or replying to a tweet. The feature was first revealed by software engineer Jane Manchun Wong, who has an excellent track record with uncovering unannounced features hidden in popular apps.
A big Twitter app update shifts photo and video capture - and sharing - to the fore, with an updated camera aiming to oust Instagram for your media addiction. The new version of the Twitter app is being rolled out over the next few days, the company says, and will change how the camera is accessed from the main feed.