If Twitter ever introduces the ability to edit tweets, you can thank Kim Kardashian.
As countless others have done before her, Mrs. West on Friday night decided complain about Twitter. Unlike most, however, she actually emailed the service rather than simply tweeting about her problems. Apparently irritated that she had tweeted a spelling mistake, forcing her to delete the tweet and send it again, she suggested giving users the ability to make corrections to existing tweets.
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Although Kim used surprisingly good judgment in sending her complaints directly to Twitter, she still tweeted her suggestion, which quickly garnered lots of support in the form of thousands of retweets and favorites.
I just emailed Twitter to see if they can add an edit feature so that when u misspell something u don't have to delete & repost Let's see...— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) July 25, 2015
A few people sent Kardashian West's thoughts directly to Jack Dorsey's very active Twitter account.
.@jack. She has a point. https://t.co/u0mmU52M2c— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) July 25, 2015
Dorsey responded quickly to the former Dancing With the Stars contestant, appearing to endorse the idea of edited tweets, although he stopped short of saying Twitter was planning on rolling out the feature anytime soon.
@KimKardashian great idea! We're always looking at ways to make things faster and easier.— Jack (@jack) July 25, 2015
Edited tweets have long been a desired feature, but allowing users to change tweets opens a can of worms that even the Twitter bird might not like eating. Editing a tweet could potentially change the meaning and appeal of tweets, and retweets and favorites -- which are seen as forms of endorsement -- could be manipulated and lose their meaning.
However, other social networks -- especially Facebook -- grappled with the same issues and decided the benefits of editing posts outweighed any potential abuse. We'll wait and see if KK's "great idea" inspires Twitter to add an editing button. In the meantime, we still live in a delete-and-repost Twitterverse.