Elon Musk polls Twitter users if they want an edit button, CEO says vote carefully

In his famous quirky manner, Musk asked his more than 80 followers if they wanted an edit button through a poll. The options were “yse” — misspelt “yes” — and “no”.

Elon Musk, shortly after acquiring a 9.2 per cent stake in Twitter, took the internet by storm when he ran a poll on Tuesday to ask if his followers wanted an edit button — a feature that has been hotly anticipated by Twitter users. As it is with Musk, you can never guess if he is just joking or genuine about the topic he shares on Twitter, so most of Musk’s followers were casual about the poll, only to be shocked when Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal chimed in, urging users to “vote carefully.”

In his famous quirky manner, Musk asked his more than 80 followers if they wanted an edit button through a poll. The options were “yse” — misspelt “yes” — and “no”. The poll garnered a huge response from Twitter users. A better chunk of responders to Musk’s poll replied yes, amplifying the demand that has been there for a long time and the one that Twitter never accepted before. However, at the same time, some users listed the cons of an edit button on Twitter, saying that users would be able to change their stance (read words) by editing a controversial or unsavoury tweet.

Agrawal retweeted Musk’s poll and said, “The consequences of this poll will be important. Please vote carefully.” Twitter CEO's choice of words in the retweet hints that the company is indeed considering offering an edit button for tweets, but, at the same time, urges users to think about the pros and cons of an edit button. While convenient, an edit button would allow people to change their ideas and stance, let alone words, in case their original tweet stirred controversy.

Interestingly, Twitter’s own handle on the microblogging website tweeted — “we are working on an edit button” — on April 1, which is April Fool’s Day. Since the tech companies are famous for playing pranks on their users on that day, no one took Twitter seriously. Apparently, that tweet was a way to gauge the interest among Twitter users over an edit button.