Twitter hints at 'whisper mode' for private messages while silently rolling out a mute button for annoying tweeters
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Twitter is a hive of opinion, news and GIFs but sometimes even the most interesting people can tweet during events or about certain topics that annoy their followers.
In the not-so-distant future, these users will be able to mute irritating or boring tweets temporarily, rather than blocking the account completely.
The feature is reportedly being trialled on mobile devices at the same time CEO Dick Costolo hinted at introducing a 'whisper mode' for private conversations.
Reports emerged today Twitter is also trialling a mute option on its apps. Users said they spotted the feature on iOS and Android devices as well as Tweetdeck, pictured. The tool lets people silence users temporarily, but does not block them from sending notifications and direct messages
TWITTER MUTE VERSUS BLOCK
On Twitter, any user can be blocked.
This means the blocked user can't see the tweets of the person who has blocked them, and can't send them replies or direct messages.
With the mute button, users can be effectively hidden temporarily.
This means muted people can still tweet and message the user, but their tweets are hidden from the timeline.
The 'whisper mode', on the other hand, will work like direct messages for groups of people, rather than one-on-one conversations.
Costolo made the comments during an interview with Bloomberg earlier this week.
'There are frequently public conversations that you would like to grab hold of and take into whisper mode.
Being able to move fluidly between that public conversation and the private conversation is something we'll make simpler.'
Private conversations are already possible using direct messages (DMs), but these only apply to one-on-one discussions.
Whisper mode would effectively be a group version of DMs.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, pictured, made the comments during an interview with Bloomberg. He said the site was looking at introducing a 'whisper mode' that would let groups of Twitter users to talk in private - similar to direct messages but for more people
Meanwhile, the mute button started appearing across iOS and Android devices on the official Twitter app, as well as Tweetdeck, earlier today.
Users have been tweeting screenshots of the tool, that lets users silence specific tweeters in a timeline. It only appears to have been rolled out to a select few.
The main difference between the mute tool and the block function is that notifications and direct messages from muted users will still appear.
Twitter constantly experiments and rolls out features that don't always end up becoming permanent features.
When asked about Twitter testing, Costolo said: 'In our latest iOS or Android apps, there are well over 100 experiments running in each of those apps.'
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