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Twitter's edit button surfaces although it won't work right now

By Alan Friedman

Published: Apr 17, 2022, 3:28 PM

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Has this ever happened to you? You're composing a tweet and very proud of what you are saying. Perhaps it was a hilarious joke or a brilliant bit of analysis on your part. Regardless, you are excited for the Twitter community to read your contribution. But when re-reading the tweet, you realize that thanks to a typing error, you've tweeted the exact opposite of what you wanted to say.

Twitter will soon beta test its eagerly awaited edit button

Twitter famously does not feature an edit button, so the only thing you can do is tweet a correction before the negative comments start heading your way. But soon, you might be able to tap an edit button and revise your tweet. A tweet from Twitter (how else did you think the company would communicate to the public, through WhatsApp?) during the first week of April said that the firm was indeed working on adding an Edit button.

Uh oh! @Twitter's edit button can already be enabled. It doesn't work yet, but I'll keep an eye on it! pic.twitter.com/7hyCAxsSym
— Dylan Roussel (@evowizz) April 16, 2022

On Saturday, 9to5Google contributor Dylan Roussel disseminated a tweet showing that he was able to enable the Twitter edit button before it has been made official. Mind you, the button is not yet operational but it does give us an idea about what to expect from the social media platform which is the subject of a $41 billion all-cash takeover bid from multi-billionaire Elon Musk.

To access the Edit Tweet button, you will have to open the overflow menu and press on the Edit Tweet listing in the menu. When the button is working, users will be able to correct spelling errors and typos, add content to a tweet they have written, and hit "Update" to make the appropriate changes to the post. Again, the button is not yet functional and if you try to use it, a failure message will appear.

Musk's poll shows that an overwhelming number of Twitter users want an Edit button

Right now, Twitter says that the edit button will first be available for Twitter Blue subscribers as a beta release. Before the feature becomes available to all Twitter users, there will be an opportunity for the company to make any changes that it deems necessary.

Interestingly, on the day that Musk initially announced his 9.2% stake in Twitter, he revealed the results of a poll he posted on the site showing that a whopping 73.6% of those Twitter users answering his question want an edit button while 26.4% do not.

Where do you stand on this issue? Do you want to be able to make changes to your Twitter posts to fix errors and add content, or are you happy to keep your tweet unchanged forever? Pass along your comments in the box below.

Meanwhile, we would like to give you the latest update on Musk's offer to buy Twitter for $54.20 a share in cash. On Friday, Twitter's board activated a poison pill. A poison pill is action taken to dilute the holdings of a certain individual threatening to take control of a public company. A defensive tactic used in major takeover battles of the 1980s, Twitter is using it against Elon Musk.

With the poison pill in place, if a person or company purchases 15% or more of Twitter's outstanding shares without the approval of the board, other shareholders will be allowed to buy additional Twitter shares at a discount. This would dilute Musk's holdings and make it more expensive for him to buy the company. The poison pill expires on April 14, 2023.

In a press release, Twitter said, "The Rights Plan will reduce the likelihood that any entity, person or group gains control of Twitter through open market accumulation without paying all shareholders an appropriate control premium or without providing the Board sufficient time to make informed judgments and take actions that are in the best interests of shareholders."

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.