Twitter is rolling out its Circle feature to more users, after it started testing it earlier this month with a limited group of users. This feature may put an end to people who create separate accounts to Tweet privately.
The feature works much like Instagram’s Close Friends feature launched in 2018, giving users a chance to limit the audience for a specific tweet.
The Circle feature allows tweets to be sent to a specific group of people rather than the entire timeline.
To check if you have access to the Circle feature, you must update the Twitter app or head to the platform’s website in a web browser. And when you start writing a Tweet, you see a dropdown menu at the top that says “Everyone.”
From here, you can choose Circle to limit your Tweet to a specific audience, or you can tap Edit to add or remove people from your Circle. The platform will not notify users if you add or remove them.
You can add up to 150 users to your circle, whether they follow you or not. And you can modify the list whenever you want.
Twitter provides the feature widely
Users in your circle see a note attached to Tweets that are specific to the circle only (and vice versa), which says: Only people in a user’s Twitter circle can see this Tweet.
Tweeting to your circle is almost like having a private account, in that the feature allocates specific Tweets rather than restricting access to your entire account.
And people in your circle won’t be able to retweet anything you post in your circle. But they can still take a screenshot and download your tweets.
It’s also important to keep in mind that the Twitter Community Guidelines still apply even if you’re sending your Tweets to a smaller audience.
Although it seems that more users can access the feature. But Twitter spokesperson Joseph Nunez clarified that the feature is still being tested.
“We’re currently still testing Circle with a group of people across iOS, Android, and the web version globally,” Nunez said. The feature hasn’t been widely rolled out to everyone yet as we continue to gather feedback.
It’s not clear at this time how many people currently have access to the Circle feature. And more users seem to have seen the feature pop up when they started tweeting. But some users are still reporting that they can’t access it yet.