TwitterSource: iMore

What you need to know

  • Twitter is testing a Trusted Friends feature that would send tweets that only specific people can see.
  • The feature is almost like a group DM, but in your timeline.

Twitter is testing a new feature that would allow people to send tweets that only a specific group of people would be able to see. These so-called Trusted Friends would be specified by the user, allowing them complete control over who can see specific tweets. Everyone who follows a user, but isn't a Trusted Friend, would never know the tweet existed,

According to a TechCrunch report, the feature could be used to prevent your followers from having to see tweets about things that don't interest them — like a specific TV show, for example.

Twitter Trusted FriendsSource: Twitter

With the proposed Trusted Friends feature, users could tweet to a group of their own choosing. This could be a way to use Twitter with real-life friends, or some other small network of people you know more personally. Perhaps you could post a tweet that only your New York friends could see when you wanted to let them know you were in town. Or maybe you could post only to those who share your love of a particular TV show, sporting event or hobby.

Twitter is only testing this feature right now and there is no telling whether it will ever be rolled out to its entire userbase, but it's interesting to see the idea being thought about. It's almost like a reverse Twitter list, of sorts. I presume you'd also need to be using the official Twitter app for any of this to work — something I'm not sure I can do. I don't think it's unfair to say that it isn't the best iPhone app around despite its improvement of late.

Twitter continues to tweak its core experience, not always for the better. It's now much more open about what it's working on however, and I'm absolutely here for it.