As entrepreneurs, we use social media for everything. From connecting with others contemporaries to developing relationships with clients and customers – there are more reasons than ever to use social media platforms.
Twitter is one of the major global players of social media – being the 7th favourite social media platform in the world. Recent news of an edit button has shaken its user base, including those who use it for business, around the world.
But why?
A Twitter edit button… really?
If this is the first you are hearing of a Twitter edit button becoming reality, then you might be a little shocked. After all, didn’t the co-founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, say that Twitter would never add an edit button? The whole point of Twitter is that you can dash off a quick thought (or a well-crafted marketing communication) in a few simple characters – and then wait for the reactions to roll in.
You may have seen the news of a Twitter edit button on April 1st of this year, when many assumed this to be an April Fool’s joke – but nonetheless, fans of the feature clamoured for it and now we know it wasn’t a joke after all.
New majority shareholder Elon Musk is a fan of the idea. He polled his Twitter followers to find out their thoughts, and garnered some interesting results, with 73% of the three million people who responded being in favour of introducing the feature.
However, it was subsequently claimed that the choice to introduce the button was not due to Musk and his new position in the company.
The benefits of an edit button
The edit button sounds like an excellent and very beneficial idea initially. After all, we’ve all probably sent a tweet only to subsequently discover that you have a typo in there? Deleting the tweet means that any interactions you have had will be lost, which could jeopardise important connections made. Now you can simply correct the typo and keep the interactions. You may also notice that you haven’t tagged someone, or that an old tweet has a dead link – these will be things you can change effortlessly with the edit button.
Potential disadvantages
In an era where “fake news” is top of the agenda however, the edit button does also have some potential downsides.
With 500 million tweets sent per day, there is plenty to discuss. Adding an edit feature means that private citizens and companies alike will be able to change their tweets, perhaps allowing them to escape the scrutiny that they should actually face. Others point to potential scams like those that sprang up on Facebook with the advent of an edit button, and fear the same could happen on Twitter.
There are some risks to brand reputation if your customers believe that you are hiding something from them by making a simple edit.
How you can keep up
While the Twitter edit button will be rolled out to Twitter Blue subscribers first, we will soon all be enjoying the ability to change our minds without deleting our tweets. So how can you adapt your marketing strategy to incorporate this new change? The important thing is to continue to create unique and engaging content that has been well thought out beforehand – and make sure that anyone you work with is well trained in Twitter etiquette.
The edit function should be used for minor mistakes, not for trying to spot clean major marketing messes, and brand safety is more important than ever thanks to this seemingly small change.
While social media is an ever-changing part of your marketing strategy, the Twitter edit button could be one of the most profound changes yet. Knowing what it could mean for you and your own social media presence is essential so that you don’t fall foul of the potential pitfalls – and get the most out of this latest update.
