The new Twitter feature called CoTweets appears to have a loophole. It can now happen that users accidentally compose unlisted tweets. For some time now, the microblogging service Twitter has been offering its users a new function. With so-called CoTweets, users of two different accounts can compose a tweet together.
A New Twitter Feature Creates Unlisted Tweets
However, as The Verge reports, this same feature seems to be a loophole. Because if a user writes a CoTweet without a co-author, the tweet will not be officially published.
While that doesn’t mean the new post is private. However, other Twitter followers can only see it if they explicitly receive a link to the tweet or if it is embedded in another website. The new tweet will not appear in followers’ feeds. And even if other users search for it, they cannot find it.
However, the unlisted tweet is not entirely lost. If other users write a comment under the post, it will appear in the Twitter search. This means that from this point on, he can be found in a roundabout way.
Tweets Without A Co-author Remain Unlisted
There is a simple trick to composing an unlisted tweet. Using the CoTweet function, another user is asked to publish the tweet together.
If the requested follower accepts the request, the CoTweet will be published in full. If the user declines the request, the unlisted tweet will be deleted. However, if the Demand for co-tweeting is ignored, the message ends up in limbo. Then only users with the corresponding link can see the unlisted tweet.
This Is How Twitter Reacts To Unlisted Tweets
An unlisted tweet is roughly on par with an ad. This is because the “hidden” messages are very similar to the “Promoted Only” tweets that Twitter offers advertisers.
As The Verge reports, the resulting loophole doesn’t pose a big problem for Twitter. When asked by the magazine, Twitter spokeswoman Layal Brown replied: We have no plans to change this during this initial exploration phase, but we are monitoring and will re-evaluate if urgent changes are needed.
However, anyone considering writing an unlisted tweet should remember that the post can only be reached via URL. However, Twitter and data partners of the microblogging service still have access to the message.
ALSO READ: DeepMind: This Algorithm Recognizes The Structure Of Almost All Species
