Twitter has taken steps to mitigate issues pertaining to their firm. It has promised to roll out long overdue fixes that counter online harassment. The promise made by Twitter should be in effect as of this week.
Twitter Harassment
The decision was made to deal with the rising harassment happening on its platform. It aims at making Twitter a safe place for users. Thus, the need to roll out changes is vital to ensure that the plan would be a successful one.
Twitter vice president of engineering Ed Ho said that users would see the difference in the latter days starting this week. It would also prevent offenders from making more fake accounts. Twitter will implement changes that promote learning and iterating the changes so that its effectiveness is evaluated.
Twitter's Priorities
Twitter and its plan of eliminating harassment are one of their top priorities. Moreover, the social media platform urges its users to provide feedback on its effectiveness in the latter months, preferably at the end of this year.
We heard you, we didn't move fast enough last year; now we're thinking about progress in days and hours not weeks and months.
— Ed Ho (@mrdonut) January 31, 2017
However, the change is not an easy one. Twitter needs to involve other segments and not only the users to make the transformation universal. If the social media platform wants to change, it needs to transform into something that promotes productive conversations.
Given the history of harassment occurring in Twitter, the time is ripe for the platform to make radical changes. Ho admitted that Twitter was not able to protect its users from threats, insults, and other forms of harassment.
Twitter's Goals
Another end goal that Twitter wants to implement is a real-time discussion between the users and the management. Although specific details were not handed out, Ed Ho, the vice-president of Twitter, assures users that the company has heard their qualms and promises and that the social media platform is already gearing up to promote wholeness and a safer experience for its users.
This week, we'll tackle long overdue fixes to mute/block and stopping repeat offenders from creating new accounts. — Ed Ho (@mrdonut) January 31, 2017
The past harassment and its damage may be irrevocable, but the changes would help Twitter to prevent history from repeating itself in the coming days. On a different note, users could only hope that the promises would indeed roll out and come sooner so that Twitter users could enjoy the platform without having to worry about harassment lurking around the corner.
