Twitter’s been making headlines recently. Usually good things, such as its new mobile app design, allowing pictures in DMs, and its IPO. However today’s Google search of Twitter is filled with stories about its block flip flop and media consumer’s confusion over it.
New York Times media journalist David Carr posted the tweet above after news broke out of Twitter’s decision to let blocked users follow and read your tweets, as well as reply or retweet them. The blocker is the one who has no idea the blocked can see them at anytime. So, where’s the blocking there?
This proved to be an enormously unpopular decision as Twitter faced major backlash from users. Using the hashtag “#restoretheblock” many users retaliated and had Twitter rethink this lack of judgement. Four hours later and Twitter reversed the new policy much to everyone’s delight.
“We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users – we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe. Any blocks you had previously instituted are still in effect” wrote Michael Sippey, VP of Product in Twitter’s blog.
As also mentioned in the blog post, Twitter is still sticking with their philosophy– they believe letting the blocked user know they’re blocked will only usher in more retaliation. Sippey wrote, “Some users worry just as much about post-blocking retaliation as they do about pre-blocking abuse.” He adds, “Moving forward, we will continue to explore features designed to protect users from abuse and prevent retaliation.”
In a world where cyberbullying is present in social media, it is understandable why so many users had an issue with Twitter’s ill-thought out policy change. Props to Twitter for quickly recognizing negative feedback and reversing the decision immediately.
Now that that’s all over, we can go back to tweeting about Beyonce and all her glory.