Year Ender 2021: Twitter Spaces, Super Follows, and the return of the blue tick

Twitter in 2021 was a lot about coming together. At least the first few months of the year were all about people coming together to help each other out with Covid-19 resources, not just in India, but globally. As things came slightly under control as far as the second wave of Covid-19 was concerned, the micro-blogging platform added on a host of features to make the user experience better.

And before 2021 wrapped up, Twitter saw CEO Jack Dorsey resigning and making way for the new person at the helm -- India-born Parag Agrawal.

Agrawal has just begun his stint as CEO and it remains to be seen how his time as the lead helps shape the platform. But for now, here are all the things Twitter introduced in 2021:

Twitter starts testing Communities

Twitter started testing Communities on the platform to better connect people who care and want to talk about the same topics. For users joining Communities, you can tweet to the group directly instead of tweeting to all your followers. And only the community members can reply to the tweets and join a conversation. This feature is currently available only on iOS and web, with Android functionality coming in soon.

Twitter Blue

This one’s for the professionals. Twitter Blue is a special subscription service that gives people access to exclusive features like ad-free articles, top articles, bookmark folders, undo tweet, and a reader mode. Twitter Blue is available on iOS and Android in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Twitter Spaces

Twitter Spaces introduced live audio conversations on the platform and the platform also introduced a host of features for this including support for hosts to schedule Spaces, record Spaces, and a Spaces tab is also currently being tested.

Ticketed Spaces

Ticketed Spaces is Twitter’s way to support creators for their time and effort. Creators can earn a share of the revenue from the tickets purchased by audiences to attend Spaces hosted by them. This is currently available on Twitter for iOS and Android for a select set of US creators.

Super Follows

Twitter introduced Super Follows to give creators on the platform the opportunity to earn a monthly revenue by sharing Tweets that are meant only for their paying subscribers. As the platform explained, “with Super Follows, people can create an extra level of conversation on Twitter and interact authentically with their most engaged followers — all while earning money — through a monthly subscription”.

This feature is currently only available on iOS for a select handful of creators in the US.

Twitter acquires Revue

In an attempt to make the platform a better home for writers to create, share, and monetise content, Twitter acquired Revue. Revue is a service that makes it easy for anyone to start and publish editorial newsletters, and it is free. In August this year, Twitter also introduced a way for newsletter creators to add a subscribe button to their Twitter profiles. The subscribe button is currently only available for a test group on Android and the web.

Twitter Tips

Twitter added the Tips feature for users to support their favourites on the platform with money. Twitter takes no cut from these payments and the transaction is facilitated through third-party services like PayPal, Patreon, Razorpay, etc. Twitter users can add Tips to their profile from Settings.

In September, Twitter allowed people to pay each other with Bitcoin by using Strike, a payments application built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network. This facilitated people to send and receive Bitcoin Tips free and instantly.

Safety Mode on Twitter

Twitter’s Safety Mode is a feature that is currently being tested with a small group of people that includes female journalists and people from marginalised communities to “better protect the individual on the receiving end of Tweets by reducing the prevalence and visibility of harmful remarks”. The Safety Mode temporarily auto-block accounts that respond to tweets with potentially harmful language (insults or hateful remarks). It also blocks accounts that send repetitive and uninvited replies or mentions. This feature is currently being tested on iOS and Android with a select set of users in English.

Choose who can follow you

Twitter’s new feature, which rolled out in September, allows users to curate their follower list. Without directly having to block someone on the platform, this feature allows any person to tap through to their list of followers and actively remove someone from following them.

Choose who can reply

Twitter added Conversation Settings to allow people to “Change who can reply” to a tweet, even if it is midway through a conversation. This allowed people to limit unwanted replies and participate in more meaningful conversations with the people they wanted.

Edge-to-edge tweets

Twitter upgraded the quality of photos and videos on the platform so that photos, videos, and GIFs could look better. It also added support for sharing a tweet on Instagram and YouTube.

No more auto-crop

Twitter removed the auto-crop feature on the platform so that the aspect ratio on the image being posted remains unchanged. Users can see a preview of how the image will look in the composer tool before they go ahead and post it. “This was a first step of our larger plan to improve media on Twitter, so that people can share and see content in its original intended form, and have more flexibility and control over how their photos appear on their timeline,” Twitter said.

AP and Reuters comes on board

Twitter built on its curation team to help credible information surface on Twitter and joined hands with the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters for the process.

New and improved misinformation labels

Twitter rolled out redesigned misinformation labels for people to recognise more easily when the content of a tweet is potentially misleading. These labels appear with colour-coded backgrounds making them easier to spot.

Community-based approach to dealing with misinformation

Twitter introduced Birdwatch to collaboratively add helpful notes to tweets that might be misleading. Twitter’s Birdwatch is currently a pilot program being tested in the US.

New language settings

Twitter launched a new language setting that better addressed the feminine form in Arabic by including a way to address women in a tweet instead of men as a default.

The return of the blue tick

Twitter’s verification program returned to the platform with updated eligibility criteria. “Eligibility criteria is more transparent thanks to our new policy that was largely shaped by public feedback,” Twitter said.

Watch what you tweet

In 2020 Twitter was testing prompts to encourage users to pause and reconsider a potentially abusive, offensive or harmful reply before they pressed send. “These tests showed us that if prompted, 34 per cent of people revised their initial reply or decided not to send their reply at all. It also showed us that after being prompted once, people composed, on average, 11 per cent fewer offensive replies in the future,” Twitter said.

This year, Twitter added an update to the test by including a consideration for the relationship between the author of the tweet and the person responding, how often they interact, etc.

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