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How I would design the Twitter "edit tweet" feature

Introduction

Some things are constant in this life; death, taxes and people demanding for an “edit tweet” button. But if Jack is to be believed, this is not happening. (Update: Jack has stepped down as Twitter CEO so who knows what could happen?)
(2023 Update: Lol.)

Twitter Edit Feature

Industry

Social media

Platforms

iOS, Android

Expertise

UX Design, UI Design

Why edit tweets?

Typos. Omissions. Whatever. We’ve all been there. You could have sworn the tweet looked alright at the time of tweeting but then it magically develops a problem seconds later (hello iPhone keyboard). 

If, like me you’re anal about correctness, then you have two options to undo this errant magic: delete your tweet or correct it under the original tweet. 

Problem is: your tweet probably gained a lot of engagement first time around, or, like newspaper retractions, few people bother especially as Twitter prioritizes your first tweet anyway.

Allowing edits raises some very difficult questions. For example, many entities, including organisations and state functionaries, use Twitter for information management. It’s important that these people are not simply able to edit their way out of a bad situation.

Challenges

  1. We don’t want people changing the whole meaning of a tweet. Let’s say someone tweets “I love Stephen Curry!” then edits the tweet and changes it to “I hate Stephen Curry!” The whole meaning of the tweet has changed.
  2. What time constraints should we build into the process? It doesn’t really make sense for you to edit a tweet one month later. 
  3. And even more importantly, what happens to engagement (likes, retweets, quote tweets) when a tweet is edited?
  4. Should we have access to the original tweet and should you be able to engage with it after it has been edited?

Proposed solutions

  1. Have a 3-min edit window.
  2. Show that the tweet has been edited and show the old tweet.
  3. Original tweets can no longer be liked, retweeted or quoted.
  4. After a tweet is edited, the original tweet is removed from the timelines of everyone who liked, retweeted or quote-tweeted it. These engagers would also be sent a notification of the edit (along with the option to see the edited tweet). They can then decide for themselves if they want to re-engage (like, quote, retweet).
  5. When you click the edited tweet, the original tweet is shown under the tweet like a thread.

Showing where to edit tweet

How edited tweets are shown on the TL

How edited tweets are shown when you click the tweet

How the notification sent to people who liked or retweeted looks like

Conclusion

Will Twitter bite? Or will continue to sidestep the minefield that is the “edit tweet” feature? We continue to observe.