Twitter has officially confirmed that it is working on an edit button, and the feature will be trialed in the coming months to see “what’s possible”.
It’s pretty fair to say that it’s been one of the most-demanded features since the social media application was first founded, and now, Twitter has finally confirmed what users have been waiting all this time for – the ability to amend already-published tweets via an edit button is in the works, and trials are soon to start.
Twitter first appeared to reveal it was working on the feature in a viral tweet on April Fool’s day last week, but users understandably brushed it aside and presumed it must just have just been a joke given the date.
But now, it seems like there was truth in it all along.
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The announcement that the function is now in the works came after billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk – who is now Twitter’s single biggest shareholder, after buying a 9.2% stake in the company worth almost $3 billion earlier this week – sent out a poll on the platform asking users if they wanted an edit button.
More than 4.4 million people responded to his question, with 73.6% voting for the function and 26.4% voting against it.
Twitter’s communications department took to the platform yesterday to announce that an edit function is planned and currently being worked on, however, it has denied that this is as a result of Musk’s question poll.
“Now that everyone is asking… yes, we’ve been working on an edit feature since last year.” Twitter said.
“No, we didn’t get the idea from a poll we’re kicking off testing within @TwitterBlue Labs in the coming months to learn what works, what doesn’t, and what’s possible.”
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As confirmed by Twitter, the edit function will first be trialed by Twitter Blue users – which is the platform’s premium monthly subscription service that operates in the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with users paying to get access to premium features and app customisations.
No word has been given as to whether the trial will be rolled-out to other users in due course.
The company’s head of consumer product, Jay Sullivan, said an edit button has been the “most requested Twitter feature for many years”.
He explained that people “want to be able to fix (sometimes embarrassing) mistakes, typos and hot takes in the moment,” however, there has been some concerns raised about how the edit function will work.
People are concerned over whether it’ll be “misused”.
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“Without things like time limits, controls, and transparency about what has been edited, Edit could be misused to alter the record of the public conversation,” Mr Sullivan said.
1/ We’ve been exploring how to build an Edit feature in a safe manner since last year and plan to begin testing it within @TwitterBlue Labs in the coming months. Sharing a few more insights on how we’re thinking about Edit 🧵 https://t.co/WbcfkUue8e
He continued: “Protecting the integrity of that public conversation is our top priority when we approach this work, therefore, it will take time and we will be actively seeking input and adversarial thinking in advance of launching Edit.
“We will approach this feature with care and thoughtfulness and we will share updates as we go.
“This is just one feature we are exploring as we work to give people more choice and control over their Twitter experience, foster a healthy conversation, and help people be more comfortable on Twitter.
“These are the things that motivate us every day.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Benson Boone has announced a headline gig in Manchester – and it’s a big one
Danny Jones
American pop sensation and unrivalled king of unnecessary front flips, Benson Boone, has just announced his first-ever headline Manchester arena gig as part of a new arena tour.
The solo artist and acrobatic chart-topper has seen a meteoric rise in the US and, as is usually the case across the Atlantic, he’s become increasingly popular over here too.
Benson may have performed here in Manchester before as part of the 2024 MTV EMAs and for a small show at The Deaf Institute, but now big fans have the added Boone of getting to watch a standalone show at one of Europe’s leading indoor entertainment venues.
Announced on Friday, 30 May, the 22-year-old will be making his way across the pond from Washington for a limited run of UK concerts, with a date at Co-op Live arena being one of just five dates.
Extending his ‘American Heart Tour’ ahead of the release of his eponymous sophomore record, with this autumn leg, Co-op Live will mark his individual visit to 0161.
The Grammy-nominated artist has earned several nods of recognition already for his first album, Fireworks & Rollerblades, which was released just last spring.
He has been described as among the current trend of male singers who fit into the American Idol and ‘Voice audition pop’ genre (a term recently coined online), along with the likes of Teddy Swims, Shawn Mendes, Alex Warren and others.
Regardless of the slightly tongue-in-cheek term, he’s become a huge hit around the world and landing him is still a big coup for the venue that has already welcomed similarly massive pop contemporaries like Swims, Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Rodrigo and more.
In case you’re wondering just how big a deal he is over in the States, even this early in his career, his domestic headline dates sold out in seconds, quite literally…
The last time he visited Co-op Live was to perform at the most recent MTV EMAs
Benson Boone is coming to Manchester on Monday, 27 October and will be playing just two other British venues: The O2 in London (two nights) and the Utilita Arena in Birmingham.
Safe to say you don’t want to miss this one if you like soaring vocals and lots of flipping.
General admission tickets go live at 10am on Thursday, 5 June, but Co-op Members can gain access via the arena’s official pre-sale window from the same time on Tuesday (3 Jun).
Emily Sergeant -
6th April 2022 
