Twitter Testing ‘Flock’ Feature, Allowing Users to Tweet Only to Close Friends

Twitter has begun testing its ‘Flock’feature, which enables users to publish a tweet only their closest friends and contacts will see on their feed. This feature appears to be very similar to Instagram’s ‘Close Friends’ features. Though, the Flock title is supposedly a placeholder.

In July 2021, Twitter first began discussing the possibility of the feature becoming a staple of the social media platform. Since that time, very few users have actually been able to try it out. However, as reported by Input, some users have been able to keep tabs on the evolution of the feature. Mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi discovered code within the Twitter app and was able to catalogue what was discovered.

According to Paluzzi, Twitter Flock is still very much alive and in active development. How it works is that Twitter users can select up to 150 other users to be in their “Flock”. Those selected will be the only ones able to view a tweet and reply to it. Users can remove and add new Flock members at any time. Any user removed from a Flock will not be notified. Those receiving a Flock tweet will see a notice saying “You can see this Tweet because the author has added you to their Flock.”

#Twitter continues to work on Twitter Flock by adding an explanation of how it works 👀

ℹ️ You can choose up to 150 people to include in your Twitter Flock 👥
ℹ️ People won’t be notified if you remove them from the list 🔕 pic.twitter.com/xtGcDiHgxS

— Alessandro Paluzzi (@alex193a) January 21, 2022

Instagram’s Close Friends feature clearly serves as an inspiration to Twitter’s Flock. It is a novel idea and allows users to maintain some level of privacy when tweeting. They may choose to only tweet to close members of their community or friends. Though, it does give enough leeway with its 150 selectable users to not feel too constricting.

Much like all features tested by Twitter, there’s no telling when it may become an everyday feature for all users. However, given that it’s been in development since last July, it may be one Twitter is committed to releasing globally.