Twitter as a platform is very useful and informative but is also misused by terrorists and some people for abuse. So far, the company has failed to address this long-persistent problem, but now the company has devised some new features to tackle the problem.
Twitter has failed so far
A large number of users, including victims, requested that the company crack down on abuse and harassment. Some even quit the platform when the company could not help them with the abuse and online harassment.
In the past, the micro-blogging firm made some minor efforts to curb abuse and online harassment, like banning figures like Milo Yiannopoulus and Martin Shkreli. However, so far, the micro-blogging company has failed to come up with any coherent strategy to deal with the issue.
Late Monday, the micro-blogging firm shared new tools to battle the issue, but it didn’t provide details about the measures it will take to address the problem.
Referring to a tweet by Ed Ho, Twitter’s vice president for engineering, in which he promised to make some changes soon; CEO Jack Dorsey wrote, “We’re taking a completely new approach to abuse on Twitter. Including having a more open & real-time dialogue about it every step of the way. This week, we’ll tackle long overdue fixes to mute/block and stopping repeat offenders from creating new accounts.”
https://twitter.com/mrdonut/status/826218993765609472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
In a Twitter message, Ho said, “We heard you, we didn’t move fast enough last year; now we’re thinking about progress in days and hours not weeks and months.”
Among the four changes that Dorsey plans for 2017
In December, Dorsey asked users what changes, improvements and new features they would want to see in Twitter in 2017. Of all the requests and suggestions received, Dorsey shortlisted four, of which abuse was one, while others were flexibility to fix typos in tweets and making it easier for users to follow conversations and find topics, notes PC World.
In the coming days and weeks, the company will be rolling out a number of product changes, of which some will be immediately visible, while others will be targeted to specific scenarios. It is hoped that the changes Ho and Dorsey are promising will offer the necessary protections that users seek.
On Monday, Twitter shares closed up 2.23% at $16.94. Year to date, the stock is up almost 4%, while in the last year, it is up almost 1%.
