Twitter is looking to refine privacy tools by testing a feature that stops certain followers from seeing Tweets without having to block them.
The feature is currently being tested on the web, and it is the first of Twitter’s proposed suite of new privacy tools. According to Svetlana Pimkina, a staff researcher at Twitter: “When social privacy needs are not met, people limit their self-expression, they withdraw from the conversation.”
This is obviously what Twitter wants to avoid, in its help its users take part in more conversations.
Related | Twitter Launches Safety Mode To Automatically Block Abusive Accounts
According to the Tweet announcing the test, users can remove followers from their list by clicking the three-dot menu next to a follower’s name, then select “Remove follower,” to prevent the unwanted account from seeing their tweets on their timeline.
We're making it easier to be the curator of your own followers list. Now testing on web: remove a follower without blocking them.
To remove a follower, go to your profile and click “Followers”, then click the three dot icon and select “Remove this follower”. pic.twitter.com/2Ig7Mp8Tnx
— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) September 7, 2021
The new tool improves on the previous blocking feature, which keeps unwanted accounts from viewing a user’s tweets or directly messaging the user. Twitter’s new remove follower feature is a gentler way to create some distance between users.
It represents an alternative to the “soft block” we had till now. With this option, users can manually block and unblock accounts to have them removed from seeing “protected tweets” unless they’re approved to be the user’s follower again.
You might also like
More from Twitter
Twitter Makes It Harder To Switch To Reverse-Chronological Feed
Twitter has made it harder to switch between the Latest and Home feeds in the app, with the algorithm-based feed …
Twitter Unveils New Monetization Tracking Dashboard For Creators
Twitter recently unveiled a new Creator Dashboard to help creators make the shift into monetized content creation.
Twitter Is Working On A New Podcast Discovery Tab
User reports show a new podcast discovery button placed within the sidebar menu and the lower navigation panel of the …
Twitter Expands Birdwatch Access To More Test Users
Twitter has announced updates for its Birdwatch crowdsourced fact-checking program, and a new testing group of random US users.
Twitter Rolls Out New Bot Labels To Identify Good Bot Accounts
Developers can take part in the initiative and identify their accounts as bots, displaying a label on their profiles and …
Twitter Expands Beta Access To ‘Safety Mode’ Anti-Abuse Tool
The tool, which automatically blocks abusive accounts for seven days, has been extended to users in a number of English-speaking …
Twitter Adds Three New Payment Options To Tip Creators
Twitter is adding three more payment methods to tip creators in Africa and India, as well as adding support for …
Twitter Is Working On A Feature That Lets You Tweet Select Users Only
Twitter may soon be launching Flock, a feature that allows users to select a group of up to 150 close …