Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) claims that it has been working on improving its abuse blocking feature on its microblogging platform. Abuse has been such a prevalent problem on the social site that the company’s former CEO stated that it had been putting the business at risk.
Previous blocking features from the company were not very effective. Previously if a user blocked someone on the social platform, the blocked person could still see some of the tweets from the blocker. However, the user would not get access to or be able to view tweets from the persons they have blocked. Twitter now claims that the blocking features such as the one from Tweetbots have the ability to block people completely. This means they will not get access to tweets from a user who has blocked them no matter how many times the posts are retweeted or replied to.
The previous blocking feature was not as effective because blocked people would still view posts once they were retweeted. The firm stated that the improvements to the blocking feature were not warranted by any specific incidents but are rather because the firm wants to give the best to users on the social platform. It also aims to make Twitter friendlier by discouraging abuse and harassment. The block feature can be found in a hidden menu on every tweet so that those who feel that they want to block a person who has posted a rude, or abusive post can block them if they wish to do so.
The fact that the button is located in a hidden menu means that user action on a tweet is not the company’s priority. Nonetheless, it is the decision of the user to respond in any manner to tweets including blocking people. It also highlights the improvements that the company has added to the blocking feature. Rearranging the terms of service seems to have done little to discourage abusive users on the platform and perhaps the new changes are part of a decision to employ tighter measures.