3 crucial features Twitter should just implement already

With all of the changes Twitter has been announcing and implementing recently, it seems as though the social media micro-blogging (can we still call it that?) giant isn’t listening to its users.

There are a range of problems with the platform — as there are with any social media system, really — but Twitter could be so much more.

At the moment, the company is showing financial growth, but not user growth which could be attributed to a number of reasons.

These are the three crucial features Twitter needs to implement as soon as possible:

1. Conversation untagging

Have you ever been caught up in a Twitter conversation you don’t care about or no longer show any interest in it? It’s quite the experience having your timeline flooded with tweets about something political, religious, and just nonsense you don’t want to take part in.

The problem is, there’s no way to quietly remove yourself from these threads unless you ask the next person commenting to remove your name. Even that isn’t a fool-proof system as your request can be ignored. It’s time to implement an untag yourself button Twitter.

2. Spoiler tags

People love watching the latest episode of Game of Thrones, a new comic book movie trailer, or even playing a new video game. In fact, they’ll love it so much they’ll want to share all of their feelings and experiences on Twitter and hope someone engages them in conversation. Besides their love or hatred for a show, there’s a myriad of spoilers been thrown about from some character’s death to another’s return.

Unfortunately, it can be rude to those who aren’t playing the latest video game, watching the latest movie, or reading the newest book. Sure, some can use select hashtags to notify others of the intended or unintended spoiler, but it’s not always used.

Like many forums, such as phpBB, Twitter needs to implement a spoiler tag button to cover up such text. This should help to keep users online after the latest episode whatever is new and hot at the moment airs, or to stop mass unfollowings of those who spoil pop culture.

3. A harassment system

This one is a biggie. While points one and two are nice to have, this feature could be a major turning point for Twitter.

Have you ever tweeted a throwaway out of context comment only for 50 people to moan at you? How about being one of those people, taking the “higher ground” and blasting someone away for their ‘evil’ words? How about moaning at someone just because of their views, sexual orientation, or colour? Well, that’s harassment. It’s something that’s popped up on social media and a phenomenon that no social platform has been able to correctly handle.

Just take a look at the likes of #GameGate to see what dog piling and harassment truly are (from both sides of the conversation).

Twitter is rife with harassment and reporting users doesn’t always work. This has seen a lot of people leaving the social media platform, never to return again. Twitter, it’s time to take harassment seriously and not just say you are.

What features do you think Twitter needs to implement? Let us know in the comments below.