Twitter starts testing ‘unmentioning’ feature

In spite of the popularity of Twitter, it can’t be denied that there are still a lot of sections of the platform that need improvement. Over the past weeks, we witnessed the company introduce and unveil new ideas, from Collaboration to the Edit button and search option on the DM page. Now, the company has revealed yet another project it is concocting to make the experience a little more satisfying for users: the “unmentioning.”

Twitter is working on an onboarding screen for “Leave this conversation” pic.twitter.com/cZYeOdo1pJ

— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) February 18, 2022

The feature’s existence was first revealed back in February (though there was still no specific name for it at that time) by a user named Jane Manchun Wong, who posted the image of the unmentioning feature prompt.

https://twitter.com/i/status/1512137703067996166

On April 8, Twitter officially announced that it is testing the new feature that will allow users to remove themselves from conversations that make them uncomfortable. The company said it will be rolling out the feature to a small population of users though it will go global. The company also detailed that the feature will not cover mobile apps but will instead be tested on the web for the moment. 

Participants of the test can access the unmentioning feature via the three-dot menu located next to a specific reply where they are mentioned or tagged. When tapped, the menu will give you the prompt to “get you out of this conversation,” explaining that unmentioning will only untag you in the replies, albeit your username will still remain there.

Once you have successfully unmentioned yourself, your handle in the conversation will turn gray, indicating that you applied the feature. This also means anyone who wants to reply in the conversation won’t be able to tag you again in the thread. In addition to that, it is implied that you won’t get any notifications about that conversation anymore. That said, it can be a valuable tool for Twitter users who want to save themselves from the toxic exchanges on the platform after mistakenly commenting about a specific topic. It will let them keep their comments for the reference of the following users who will join the conversation without being bothered by notifications.

In case the unmentioning gets rolled out to all users, it will join the other features introduced by Twitter to “help you protect your peace.” One of them is the Safety Mode, which prevents abuse by allowing the system to automatically block accounts sending you abusive messages.