Twitter has revealed three different design concepts that it is thinking about adding to its regular social media service. One is called “Trusted Friends” and would allow a Twitter subscriber to limit the number of people that can access a particular tweet to a small group of buddies and relatives. “Facets” would allow users to categorize the tweets that they are interested in, and the third feature allows users to choose which phrases they would prefer not to see in their replies.
None of the three features are considered to be inactive development which means that they are not available to Twitter users at the moment. With “Trusted Friends,” users can choose via a toggle switch whether a tweet they send is for public consumption or just for friends and family. Facets will allow a Twitter subscriber to separate tweets into different categories such as “professional” tweets, “personal” tweets, and tweets divided up by hobbies or other interests.
With Facets, Twitter says that you’ll be able to choose to follow tweets from Twitter users only when they are related to a specific topic that you’re following; this way you won’t have to follow every tweet disseminated by someone you’re following. Think about how much time you might save by restricting the tweets you receive to only those of interest to you.
The last feature, as we noted in the first paragraph, allows a Twitter subscriber to block certain phrases. In an example released by Twitter, the author of a tweet has asked Twitter to block profanities from the responses he receives from his tweets including the phrase “asshole.” Twitter says that profanity can be harmful and following the requests of the user, tweets including profanities are moved to the bottom of the conversation, out of view for most people.
Twitter is hoping that by releasing this information about potential new design concepts well before they are being actively considered, feedback from Twitter uses can be generated to help the social media firm determine whether they are on the right track when it comes to improving the app. Note that the images released by Twitter say “Concept only” on the top.