Twitter Privacy: Hide Your Account From Searches & New Features

Twitter Explores New Features for Enhanced Conversation Health and User Privacy

Twitter recently unveiled several concepts aimed at improving both conversation health and user privacy on its platform. These potential additions include a comprehensive “privacy check-in” feature designed to guide users through the platform’s evolving privacy controls.

Privacy Check-In: A Centralized Control Hub

The proposed privacy check-in would function as a centralized resource, similar to Google’s or Facebook’s Privacy Checkup. It would present users with a series of questions to help them define their desired level of privacy on Twitter.

Users could utilize this feature to manage settings such as tweet visibility, direct message permissions, and control over who can tag them in photos. This aims to simplify the process of adjusting privacy preferences.

Enhanced Account Clarity and Reply Reminders

Further ideas under consideration involve modifications to the Compose screen. These changes would more clearly indicate the account being used for posting and its associated privacy settings.

Additionally, a reminder system is being explored. This would alert users replying from a private account that their response won’t be visible to the recipient due to the sender’s “protected” account status. A quick toggle would allow switching to public tweets for broader participation.

Addressing Harassment with Account Hiding

One particularly interesting concept focuses on mitigating harassment. When users experience targeted abuse, it often attracts further unwanted attention. Reporting abusive users doesn’t always provide immediate relief.

Twitter is considering a feature that would allow users to temporarily “hide” their accounts. This would involve disabling search discovery and removal from “Who to Follow” recommendations. Users could even set time limits for this hidden status.

Users would receive a push notification alerting them to increased negative attention, directing them to these new privacy controls.

Discoverability Controls

• Disable account discovery by username search.
• Prevent account recommendations in the “Who to Follow” section.
• Set temporary durations for these restrictions.

Seeking User Feedback

Twitter emphasizes that these are currently just ideas, not confirmed features. The company actively seeks feedback from its user base before proceeding with development.

A Wave of Innovation

This exploration of new features follows a recent period of increased innovation at Twitter. The company has been sharing various design concepts, including ideas for tweeting exclusively to friends and utilizing multiple personas.

Previously, Twitter showcased concepts for an “unmention” feature, allowing users to remove themselves from tags in other users’ tweets.

Recent Product Launches

Twitter’s renewed focus on innovation is evident in its recent product launches. These include Fleets (Twitter’s Stories feature), Twitter Spaces (an audio networking service), Birdwatch (a crowd-sourced fact-checking tool), Twitter Blue (a premium subscription), Revue (newsletters), a tip jar, and Super Follow (a creator subscription).

While no decisions have been finalized regarding the implementation of these concepts, they demonstrate Twitter’s commitment to evolving and improving the user experience.