Twitter rolls out 'hide replies' option globally

Twitter has launched a feature allowing users all around the world to hide replies, after its pilot test in July this year. According to the social networking platform, it?aims to give users more control over the conversations on its platform.? In a blog post, Twitter's director of product management?Suzanne Xie said the option to hide replies is a new way to shut out noise.

Early findings from the test saw that about 85% of users who hide replies do not use?block or mute, and used the ?hide? feature on those who are irrelevant, off-topic, or annoying. In addition, people were also curious to see how public figures such as those in politics and journalism would use this update, although these group of individuals did not hide replies very often.

In Canada, 27% of people who had their tweets hidden said they would reconsider how they interact with others in the future. These users also thought it was a helpful way to manage what they saw, similar to muted keywords. However, some mentioned that they did not want to hide replies due to fear of retaliation as the icon remains visible.

In a statement to Marketing, a Twitter spokesperson explained that the Hidden Replies feature also includes brands using Twitter. With this feature, Twitter believes brands will have more control over the conversation they start and manage them better.

Meanwhile, the hidden replies are separated from the conversation, but everyone can still find all these Tweets though the new icon and the drop down menu. The new icon will appear to let people know when a conversation has hidden replies.The social networking platform is also exploring more options around who can reply to or see specific conversations, and is testing engagement changes to see if these lead to healthier discussions. The option to hide replies is rolling out globally on iOS, Android, Twitter Lite, and twitter.com.

?Everyone should feel safe and comfortable while talking on Twitter. Looking ahead, we?re working on new controls and more clarity around the rules of conversation spaces. Soon, we?ll be launching a new hide replies endpoint so developers can build additional conversation management tools,? Xie said.

The move comes shortly after, social media network Facebook started prototyping hidden like counts in Canada. Instagram too mulled the option of hiding like counts, to encourage?followers to focus on the photos and videos being shared and not the likes count. Industry players shared with Marketing in a conversation that?the trend of steering away from vanity metrics should be encouraged?as it helps?marketers to focus on more brand-correlational KPIs such as awareness and reach. It also?helps to remove ?deception? and bring to light true engagement results. On the influencer marketing front, the focus would be shifted from the influencers? likability to the brand affinity that they elicit and the talkability that they influence.

Read also: FB to integrate Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp: A cure to fragmentation? Instagram?s move into long-form content: Will the IGTV app dethrone YouTube? Deleting texts on FB Messenger is now possible, but should brands do it? Is your hashtag really increasing your engagement on Instagram?