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Civil conversations on social media may seem like an oxymoron on the order of “working vacation” or “jumbo shrimp.” Yet Twitter–the social media platform built on the tenet of total transparency–continues to advocate for civility at all times.

In an attempt to cut through the abuse, harassment, and escalation of toxic threads while preserving free expression for all users, Twitter rolled out a “hide replies” feature in late 2019. It offers users the ability to control the tone of a conversation they started by hiding replies deemed irrelevant or offensive and preventing a few troublemakers from creating drama with inappropriate, rude, or hateful comments.

Now, about 15 months later, it seems like it maybe hasn’t made Twitter more civil (I’m not sure I can say that with a straight face). Has the feature had the effect they expected? Does it truly cut down on abuse for organizations on the social platform?

We’ll talk about that and how to moderate social media in an extremely polarizing world on today’s episode.

Resources Included

• Hide Replies Feature
• Spin Sucks Community

About Gini Dietrich

Gini Dietrich is the founder and CEO of Arment Dietrich, a Chicago-based integrated marketing communications firm. She is the lead blogger at Spin Sucks and is the founder of Spin Sucks Pro. She is the co-author of Marketing in the Round and co-host of Inside PR. Full bio