Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West asked the CEO of Twitter for an edit button at husband Kanye West’s birthday party.
The celebrity tweeted to her 60 million followers that she “had a very good convo” with Dorsey at the party and “I think he really heard me out on the edit button”.
The tweet was liked 31,000 times and attracted more than 900 responses.
Dorsey replied: “Now I see why I was invited!”
Kardashian West replied: “Hahaha never! Kanye loves you! But I had to bring it up.”
I had a very good convo with @jack this weekend at Kanye’s bday and I think he really heard me out on the edit button.
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) June 13, 2018
Many public figures have come under pressure in the past for tweets they sent years before. While users of the social media platform are able to delete old tweets, they cannot alter them – unlike rival networks Facebook and Instagram.
Some Twitter users reacted negatively to the suggestion of an edit button, which
Dorsey has hinted at the possibility of introducing an edit button in recent years, which some see as a way of attracting new users to a platform which has struggled to rival the commercial success of Facebook.
However many are staunchly against the idea as it opens the possibility of people completely altering the content of a tweet which has already been widely shared or liked.
A selection of the responses to Kardashian West’s tweet are below.
Or a history button
— Blue (@BlueRiptide_) June 13, 2018
Easy answer: make tweets editable for a short time (5 minutes?) to easily correct typos, but not to change meaning after the fact, based on reaction.
— Andrew Moser (@ClassicShmosby) June 13, 2018
An edit button would be one of the worst things you could bring to Twitter, opening up so many more abusive tools and I cannot believe this has to be explained properly. It’s just a tweet. Your typos are not that damaging. https://t.co/GoERECXvf1
— Carl Anka (@Ankaman616) June 13, 2018
Yes. Absolutely this. Literally the *last* thing Twitter needs is an edit button.
You don’t need an edit button. You just need to proofread your tweets, which isn’t a bad idea anyway, because it can also make you wonder: is this worth sending? https://t.co/y91Z9Hhyis— Charles Arthur (@charlesarthur) June 13, 2018
Tech guy here: it’s not so much difficult as tedious. The idea isn’t new so they don’t have to figure out how to do it, but there’s new layers of data to store. E.g. For every edited tweet, you now have to store the current version, as well as each earlier version.
— Ash Menon (@ashvinmenon) June 13, 2018
The key here ‘doesn’t bring in revenue’
— Matthew Maddox (@Crazy_Bovine) June 13, 2018
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
— diane alston (@dianexlston) June 13, 2018
Kim, if you make this happen. pic.twitter.com/NPl9PFx3Ow
— Haleigh Hoffman (@HaleighHoffman) June 13, 2018
Yes pls! At least give us a 10 second window to edit
— Diane Taha (@stylecontext) June 13, 2018