To provide users with more control to keep track of the unnecessary conversation on their handles, Twitter is building a 'hide reply' feature. The new feature gives a user a "Hide Tweet" option to hide replies from other users, instead of blocking or muting them. Other users would then be able to click a "View Hidden Tweets" tool to look at the concealed tweets.
"People who start interesting conversations on Twitter are really important to us, and we want to empower them to make the conversations they start (remain) as healthy as possible by giving them some control," Senior Product Manager Michelle Yasmeen Haq tweeted on Thursday.
Although the feature would not allow users to permanently hide the replies, it would make them difficult to be spotted, ensuring hate or bad-faith do not ruin the substance of their tweets. Twitter over the years has introduced several tools like -- block, mute and report, attempting to maintain the hygiene on the platform. The platform is also planning to add the much-awaited "Edit" feature that will allow users to modify their tweets within 5 to 30 seconds of posting.
Twitter already hides replies automatically when its system picks up on tweets from suspicious or so-called "troll" accounts. The firm has been trying to clean up its platform amid complaints that its existing model enables abuse and coordinated harassment campaigns.