For years now, Twitter users have been asking for an edit button so that they can make changes to something they've already tweeted. This week Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey responded to those requests.
Dorsey says that a edit button isn't coming to Twitter. In a video made by Wired, the CEO explains that Twitter started as a service that you sent text messages to in order to post tweets, and a text can't be taken back after you send it. He says that Twitter wanted to preserve that feeling in the early days of the service.
Fast-forward to today and most folks are using Twitter as an app, but it's still unlikely that an edit button will come. "You might send a tweet and then someone might retweet that and then an hour later you completely change the contents of that tweet and that person who retweeted the original tweet is now retweeting and rebroadcasting something completely different," Dorsey explained as an issue that could arise from offering an edit button.
Dorsey also acknowledges that most people want an edit button to be able to fix a spelling error or broken link. He says that Twitter has considered adding a 30-second or 1-minute edit window to tweets, but then Twitter would have to delay sending that tweet, because once it's out there anyone can see it.
He ends his statement on the edit button by saying that "we'll probably never do it." That "probably" does leave a slight possibility that Twitter could launch an edit button in the future, but Dorsey makes it seem highly unlikely that it'll happen.
It can be frustrating when you send out a tweet and then notice that there's a small spelling error, especially if the tweet gains any retweets or likes. An edit button could be super handy for fixing typos or broken links, but despite Twitter users constantly asking for one, it sounds like there are too many possible issues related to adding an edit button for Twitter to actually do it. So you may just have to double-check your tweets before sending them or learn to not care about typos.
Do you want an edit button on Twitter?
