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Can You Edit a Tweet? Yes, Kind Of

Everyone who has ever used Twitter has had to delete a post after asking “Can you edit a Tweet?” But those days are over. Almost.

Troy Nielsen October 4, 2022
Can You Edit a Tweet? Yes, Kind Of.

Not being able to edit a Tweet might not seem like a big deal, but it is. If you’ve ever used Twitter, you know exactly what I mean. 

And even if you haven’t ever used Twitter, let me remind you of this:

covfefe: the typo heard around the world

But now the days of typo-fueled media chaos are over with the addition of Twitter’s most anticipated feature: Edit Tweet! Well, kind of.

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Can you edit a Tweet?

Yes, as of October 3rd, 2022, Twitter Blue users in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand are able to edit Tweets within 30 minutes of the time of posting. Tweets can only be edited up to a max of 5 times. US access is coming soon.  

Twitter announced that testing the editing feature has gone well, so they’re moving forward with a more widely available rollout.

How to edit a Tweet

Step 1 – Select your Tweet and tap the 3 dots (…) to open the “More” menu. 

Edit Tweet step 1

Step 2 – Tap on the Edit Tweet option.

Edit Tweet step 2

Step 3 – Make your edits and then tap Update.

Edit Tweet step 3

That’s it! But there are some limits to keep in mind:

  • Tweets can only be edited with 30 minutes from the time of posting
  • Tweets can only be edited up to 5 times
  • Edit Tweet is limited to Twitter Blue subscribers in certain areas (for now)

Tweet Edit History

Just because you’ve edited a Tweet, doesn’t mean that your mistakes, typos, or bad jokes are gone forever.

Twitter will now label any Tweet that has been edited with an Edited icon that shows when the last edit was made.

Clicking on it will pull up a history of previous versions of the Tweet, so everyone can see what was changed and when.

https://twitter.com/TwitterBlue/status/1576980495552114688

 

On the more technical side, Twitter has confirmed that the Twitter API will make metadata from Tweets available so that developers can have access to editing and update history information.

 

Twitter has stated that the Edit Tweet feature is designed to allow users to fix typos, include forgotten hashtags, and add missing media files.

The limits on edits and the displayable version history have been designed to alleviate concerns around transparency on a platform used by major news organizations and politicians to make major announcements.

Despite many loud voices begging for the edit feature, Twitter is being very conservative in its testing and rollout schedule, likely in response to the above concerns.

Assuming all goes well with the Twitter Blue users, expect the Edit Tweet feature to be released to all Twitter users in the near future.

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By Troy Nielsen

Troy Nielsen is an Inbound Marketing Specialist and associate editor of the Hootsuite blog the industry's largest social media blog with more than 4 million monthly visitors.

Troy completed his B.A. in Mass Communication and Media Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2017. He began his content marketing career as a freelance writer and expanded into copywriting, content strategy, SEO, PPC, and social media advertising.

Before joining Hootsuite in 2022, Troy worked with digital marketing agencies, SaaS startups, higher education institutions, and has covered professional sports ( NHL and NFL ) as well as esports. Find more of his credentials on LinkedIn.

Based in Surrey, BC, when Troy isn’t at his desk he’s usually out in the mountains, either camping where there’s no reception, touring a winery, or enjoying the slopes of one of the many local ski hills.

Read more by Troy Nielsen

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