Before I address the nitty gritty details behind this article, I want you to read this quote I found rather thought provoking about Twitter, "Because Twitter happens in public and in real-time, we've had some challenges keeping up with and curbing abusive conduct. We took a step back to reset and take a new approach, find and focus on the most critical needs and rapidly improve." I have many questions regarding this quote and the timing of this new tools being implemented by Twitter and it has to do with.........the election. First of all, this article was published November 16th, so during the midst of election emotions. Anyone can predict that political conversations, especially through social media, can be extremely intense. This is where my first question comes into play, wouldn't you think Twitter would have taken the election and the feelings it triggers into account well before the election process began? The debates should have been a good indicator for the online abuse that was displayed. After these debates took place, I would scroll through my twitter feed, just for the heck of it, and I cannot even estimate the amount of absurd words used when people went back and forth in a conversation regarding their feelings about the debate. The conversation was not civil in any way, and if these new tools were introduced well before, this online abuse and bullying could have been prevented much earlier. Anyways, I will stop ranting and go onto the description of these tools.
The handful of new tools introduced consist of a "mute" tool, direct report of hateful activity tool, and the refresher program for Twitter's support team. The "mute" tool does its job by allowing users to turn notifications off for specific conversations and tweets that contain any racial slurs or profanity the user does not want to be subjected to. I truly think this a great addition because I know I become annoyed very easily whenever I am subjected to hateful comments and posts because there is nothing I can really do to help this problem. So muting these types of posts is the best way for people to avoid being consumed by the hate. The next tool, the direct report of harassment tool, makes it much easier for Twitter's users to report hateful activity that targets people on the basis of their race, ethnicity, and so on. They have incorporated a faster process of viewing these reports and addressing them in a timely manner. I personally think this should have been addressed when Twitter developed the system for reporting harassment because these incidents are becoming more and more of a problem that social media sites have to keep up with and address as soon as they can. Lastly, Twitter's introduction of the refresher program for their support staff focuses on online abuse. Twitter has re-trained these employees on the company's policies, which included sessions about the cultural and historical context of abuse. Having this refresher program can lead to the success and progress Twitter needs to supply its employees in order to combat online abuse. I think this program is an excellent implementation and should continually be used.
Overall, I do believe Twitter could have focused on the online abuse problem far earlier, but the new tools they have introduced are going to be influential. I think Twitter will find climb to new heights and receive positive feedback from the many users of their social media site due to these new tools. But, time will only tell us how these tools truly effect Twitter and its tweets!
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