Twitter is currently trialing a new feature with iOS and Android users that lets them receive notifications of replies to individual tweets.
As things are, the Twitter mobile app can ping you with alerts for all the tweets posted by an individual account, but the new feature in testing adds an extra level of granular control by notifying you only of replies to a particular tweet.
The option is designed to make following the development of a conversation related to a specific tweet more straightforward, as this can sometimes be difficult if you don't already follow the original poster.
You probably have notifications on for your must-follows. Now you can get notifications when there’s a new reply to a Tweet you’re interested in! We’re testing this on iOS and Android now. pic.twitter.com/MabdFoItxc — Twitter (@Twitter) August 8, 2019
The news follows several other features that have recently been trialed or rolled out on the social media platform, all with the aim of handing over more control to users and creating a "healthier service" by cutting down on abuse and harassment.
They include a snooze button to temporarily silence notifications from the app, and a Hide Replies feature that lets users collapse replies to their tweets. The latter is designed to allow users to moderate conversations by keeping them on topic and hiding trolls where necessary.
Top Rated Comments
It is not pointless for me. In fact, this is good. I would much rather have notifications for replies to specific tweets I am interested in than having a barrage of notifications each time someone tweets from an account. I was on Twitter just a few minutes ago, and I was thinking of exactly this feature while looking at a tweet from someone I follow but do not have notifications enabled since I do not wish to be notified every single time they use Twitter.
This is one of the few times Twitter does something that helps Twitter and users alike. Usually it does things that serve to only further its own interests (crippling other Twitter clients comes to mind).