Few functions in Twitter are more central to its identity as a social media brand than the @ mention, and yet mentioning can also be used to spam and harrass users. — dpa
BERLIN: Twitter has announced that it is now letting all users remove themselves from conversations where they were mentioned, as part of an effort to avoid users from being spammed with unwanted notifications and to protect against harassment and bullying.
The new feature, previously made available to a select group of users as part of a trial, is now being rolled out globally on all Twitter platforms, the social media company has announced.
The purpose of “unmentioning” is to be able to leave conversations in which you may have been mentioned by others at some point, but in which you have lost interest or don’t want to be a part of.
Few functions in Twitter are more central to its identity as a social media brand than the @ mention, and yet mentioning can also be used to spam and harass users.
Before unmentioning, the problem was that once a person was tagged in a tweet that gets many replies, each of those replies triggered a notification for the mentioned user – something that can be negative if the original mention was not wanted in the first place.
Twitter says the solution is simple: You tap the three-dot menu button in the conversation, select the new option “Leave this conversation” and you’re done.
You will no longer receive notifications about new tweets in the conversation and – most importantly – you can no longer be mentioned in the conversation with @.
Twitter also says nobody will be notified by you leaving the conversation, so you needn’t worry about insulting a friend or family member that tagged you. – dpa
