“Whats the most important thing you want to see Twitter improve or create in 2017?” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey posed this question to the platform’s users on Thursday, and what followed was a lively discussion that lasted several hours and included thousands of suggestions.
Dorsey acknowledged in his tweet that he was following the lead of Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, who conducted a similar social media poll earlier in the week. But the stakes could be even higher for Twitter, which has struggled to meet expectations under Dorsey’s leadership.
CNBC reports that the top requests, based on a scan of the responses, were an edit button for tweets, a bookmark button for finding favorite tweets more easily, and better safety and reporting options for bullying.
The edit button in particular, which Dorsey said is being seriously considered, presents its own challenges. After all, such a feature could be abused, changing the public record after the fact. Dorsey mulled possible limits to the functionality, such as making it for spelling/grammar only or for just a brief window of time following a tweet.
Dorsey said a roundup of the discussion would be forthcoming. But it could take a lot longer for us to see what suggestions the company actually adopts.
Why this matters: Twitter has faced numerous challenges this year, from concerns over bullying, to a spate of executive departures, to the often opposing forces of trying to please existing users and yet attract new ones. Polling the platform’s users for new ideas seems as good an approach as any to getting Twitter back on track.
