New Twitter Feature Offers More Ways to Ignore Harassment

harassment
New Twitter filter lets you block offensive keywords and curtail bullying.
Photo via Pixabay/Public Domain

No one can deny that the world of social media has become a volatile place since the election. From friends engaging in ugly arguments on Facebook to nasty tweets being sent over political opinions, verbal abuse on the internet has become commonplace. Recognizing how often their site is used to spread hate, Twitter has introduced new measures to prevent abuse.

With the new ability to not only mute accounts, but to ensure that certain words and phrases never enter your feed, Twitter has made their social media experience more approachable and less hateful.

You Can Now Mute Keywords & Phrases

Twitter’s newest add-on essentially serves as an expansion on the mute feature, but the new ways to use it add a massive amount of customization.

For example, if you have that one uncle who always floods your feed with his ignorant political views, you no longer have to resort to banning him. Now you can select all of the annoying keywords that make your blood boil, and they will automatically be removed from your Twitter feed.

A Great Feature for Fighting Bullying and Abuse

It’s an unfortunate testament to social media that it’s used for negative purposes like bullying on a regular basis. From celebrities like Leslie Jones going through high-profile abuse from Twitter followers, to reports of social media harassment from typical school kids, Twitter has become a virtual weapon for bullies and deplorables.

How to Use the New Twitter Feature to Block Trump Supporters

For those people you don’t want to unfollow, but you still want to filter out their more offensive tweets, consider making a list of the words that really make your blood rise. By entering these into the Twitter mute feature, you can ensure that your Twitter experience is devoid of ignorant political views and hateful speech.

If there is a particular set of words that people use to bully you, you can now acknowledge them, and block them permanently from your Twitter feed. For example, blocking offensive terms like fat, ugly, sissy, and others will drastically reduce the bullying users encounter on social media.

Many people want to tweet in peace without being swarmed with politics. For those people, simply blocking words like Trump, Fox, Pence, and GOP can be enough to clean up your feed.

In this time when America is the most polarized it has been since the Civil War, any innovations that help social media users reduce negativity and live a peaceful life are refreshing.

 

Featured Image by Esther Vargas via Flickr under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license