Twitter’s latest feature called “Flock” appears to mirror Instagram.

Flock gives users the option to share tweets to a “flock” of 150 people. Alessandro Paluzzi, a mobile developer from Rome, revealed this in screenshots. 

Users outside this “flock” won’t have the ability to comment on, like, or even view the tweets. 

A Twitter developer previewed Flock last year under a different name – ‘Trusted Friends’ – although it’s not known if it will definitely roll out. 

Flock sounds very similar to an Instagram feature called Close Friends, which lets users limit how many people can see their Instagram Stories. 

Flock is yet to be confirmed by Twitter, but mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi has shared supposed screenshots of how it would look

Flock is yet to be confirmed by Twitter, but mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi has shared supposed screenshots of how it would look

WHAT IS FLOCK?  

A user could choose from up to 150 members to create their ‘flock.

Users can choose to have their tweets seen by all users or only those who belong to their group before they post it. 

The flock will not notify users who have formed the flock if they are removed.  

Twitter has not officially revealed Flock, but it did admit that it is always developing new features.

MailOnline has been told that Twitter spokesperson said, “Twitter is always looking for new ways of helping people engage in healthy conversation, and we’re currently investigating ways to allow people to Tweet to smaller groups,”

“We showed this concept to the public last year, and your feedback helped us shape our future. Although we do not have further information, more details will soon be available. 

Paluzzi promoted Twitter comments posting a screenshotTwitter’s Guide to “Flock” with a description of what it might look like. 

Paluzzi stated that Twitter Flock continues to be worked on by Paluzzi. She added an explanation.  

“You have the option to choose between up to 150 people who you want to add to your Twitter Flock Bust in silhouette. You won’t notify people if they are removed from your list. 

Paluzzi made the announcement earlier this month. posted a screenshot of a label that may appear beneath tweets from users who have Flock activated.

When visible by members of Flock, the tweets would say: “You can see the Tweet because the author added you to their Flock.”

Plans for Flock go back to at least last summer; back in July, Twitter designer Andrew Courter shared imagesThis is how it might look.

The original name of the feature was “Trusted Friends” rather than Flock. 

'Concept only': Twitter designer Andrew Courter shared images of how the feature might appear

‘Concept only’: Twitter designer Andrew Courter shared images of how the feature might appear

A green heart symbol would denote your Trusted Friends on the platform, according to screenshots posted in 2021 by Courter

A green heart symbol would denote your Trusted Friends on the platform, according to screenshots posted in 2021 by Courter

INSTAGRAM COVERIES SNAPCHAT W/ ‘RAGE SHAKE’  

Instagram copied Snapchat in its launch of Rage Shake, an innovative feature that allows users to share their social media content. 

To report an irritating technical problem, users simply need to open Instagram and tap the screen.  

This is very similar to Snapchat’s “Shake to Report” feature, where users can shake their phone to report bugs. 

Instagram’s owner Meta (formerly known as Facebook) has been scrambling to emulate the success of Snapchat for years, with a number of distinctly similar features, including Stories and Screenshots. 

Continue reading: Instagram adopts Snapchat’s new “rage shake” feature

The screenshots show that users can choose whether to have their post made visible to everyone or only their trusted friends before they post their tweet. 

The Twitter timeline would also show tweets from these so-called Trusted Friends – denoted by a green heart symbol – above other tweets. 

If and when it’s rolled out, Flock – or whatever it ends up being called – could add a Facebook-like element of intimacy between friends.     

Last year’s rumours suggest that Twitter might add emojis to Twitter-style tweets. 

The social network is working on five possible reactions to tweets – ‘Likes’, ‘Cheer’, ‘Hmm’, ‘Sad’ and ‘Haha’ – to complement the existing retweet capability, according to Hong Kong-based app researcher and tipster Jane Manchun Wong. 

Twitter users can click on the heart icon to “like” a tweet and to indicate endorsement. 

Twitter’s $2.99/month Blue subscription was launched in 2021 to users from the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It’s not yet known when it will be available to UK customers. 

Twitter Blue allows users to access exclusive features, such as undoing tweets and longer video posting, for a monthly fee. 

Users can cancel a tweet they have just published in 30 seconds with “Undo Twitter”, similar to the short window Gmail users have to stop sending emails. 

Undo Tweet could reduce the amount of verbal abuse that is on Twitter by giving users the chance to think twice about what they write. However, some users were not impressed with the $2.99 per month price for this privilege. 

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey (pictured) doesn't seem to be yielding to user demands to introduce an edit button for tweets

Jack Dorsey from Twitter, the CEO (pictured) seems to resist user requests to create an editing button for tweets 

Twitter stated that they are not discontinuing the free version and anyone who doesn’t want to continue using Twitter Blue can use the paid version. 

Charging money for an exclusive subscription service will help Twitter regularly turn a profit – something it had consistently failed to do until early 2018. 

Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has focused on tweaking the product to try to attract more people and increase advertising revenue. 

Twitter still isn’t yielding to user demands to implement an edit button, however – its most-requested feature.  

TWITTER WILL HAVE AN EDIT BUTTON. 

Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s CEO and founder in January 2017, was asked if the Edit button would come into use in 2020. He simply answered: “No.” 

In an interview with Wired, Dorsey said at the time: The reason there’s no edit button [and]We started our SMS text messaging service as an SMS message and there wasn’t an option to edit. 

“So, as we all know, once you send a message, it’s irrevocable. In the beginning, we tried to maintain that feel and atmosphere.   

Dorsey stated previously that there were two types of editing being looked at. 

One would give users a brief window of time after the post was sent – five minutes, for example – to make any corrections. 

One would be similar to Facebook’s editing function, which allows users to edit what they have written at any moment, with the log showing all changes.

Undo tweet, which was introduced by Twitter to its Blue subscription service in 2021 is more similar to the former. Although it does not have an editing button, this could open the door to future editing features.