Following a recent series of high-profile stories centered around the «cruel tweets»Of some users, it is said that Twitter prepares to launch a new moderation feature that will allow users filter the content they see by using keywords. Any subsequent tweets with the harmful words enabled for it would be blocked from the user's timeline and invisible to them.
The anti-bullying tool is said to have been in production for a year at the company, and is not yet ready for a mass rollout. The news comes from a group of people close to the project, and it is likely to gain traction quickly due to the lot of unfortunate incidents surrounding the social network, where two reporters and celebrities were attacked on the service.
Twitter needs to attract and retain users so that its number of users does not decrease. The company has spent the last few months consulting with an outside council of anti-bullying groups on his strategy for tackling the issue, which has become a top priority for Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.
Twitter took a few small steps this year, like making it easier for people report abuse for offensive tweets. However, the keyword tool, if applied, would be the first to give users more control over what they see rather than blocking individual users after they are attacked.
Twitter and its CEO, Jack Dorsey, have tried to make their way to the creating a less harmful atmosphere on the social networkBut so far they haven't come up with a feature that can help prevent bullying on a broader scale. The potential of the keyword blocking solution sounds similar to one used on Instagram, allowing users to filter the comment section on their photos because there are different words or phrases that are offensive to different people.
The news comes after Twitter reported slow revenue growth since 2013, thanks to the growing popularity of rival companies Snapchat and Instagram. To turn things around, Twitter plans to focus on five key areas within its network, one of which will focus on keeping users safe from online abuse.