Twitter updates on Windows 10 and web with support for Birdwatch, carousel ads, and more

A new batch of release notes have been published, revealing everything that’s been added or changed over the past few months within the Twitter Progressive Web App (PWA) that powers both the Windows 10 Twitter app and the Twitter web experience.

The most noteworthy change is added support for the new Birdwatch feature which was announced earlier today. Birdwatch is Twitter’s attempt at empowering users to identify and fact-check misleading tweets via a new note functionality which is launching today in the US and is expected to roll out to other regions soon.

???? Today we’re introducing @Birdwatch, a community-driven approach to addressing misleading information. And we want your help. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/aYJILZ7iKB

— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) January 25, 2021

Other major changes include the addition of image and video carousel ads, hover labels, the ability to dismiss topic suggestions, and more information on verified accounts.

Here’s the full release notes:

New

• Birdwatch: We’ve added Birdwatch, a pilot program in the US of a community-driven approach to addressing misleading information on Twitter. Learn more here.
• Carousels: We’ve rolled out Image/Video Carousel ad formats for Promoted Tweets on Twitter.com.
• DMs: We’ve added social context information to message requests in your inbox. This should give you a better idea of who has sent the DM, and whether they’re someone you might know.
• Hover Labels: We’ve been working to improve and expand our hover labels! To start, we’ve added hover labels to the side navigation when it’s collapsed to help give you more context. We’ve also added them to the composer, media viewer sidebar, and the home timeline switch.
• Pre-Roll Ad Redesign: We’ve made a number of updates to Pre-roll video ads on Twitter.com to improve ad attribution and the overall user experience.
• Retweets: The Retweets button will once again display the Retweet and Quote Tweet menu instead of directly opening the Quote Tweet composer.
• Topics: Topic pills in the Suggested Topics module now have an “X” button which allows you to indicate when you’re not interested in a Topic.
• Verified Accounts: We’ve added an educational sheet for the verified badge, and a new flow for verified accounts to remediate issues and violations.

Updated

• DMs: The tombstone for sensitive media in DMs will now show more informative text in the button to display media, letting you know whether it’s a photo, video, or GIF.
• Emoji Picker: The recently used section in the emoji picker will now update when closing the picker, instead of in realtime. This will make it easier to select emojis from the recently used section without them reordering while you’re making selections.
• Misinformation Prompt: When you’ve selected Like or Retweet on an embedded Tweet that has been flagged as misinformation, you’re brought to the Web client and shown a confirmation prompt. This prompt now has a link for more information about the Tweet.
• Topics: Increased the size of the Topic pills in the Suggested Topics carousel on mobile devices.
• Topics: For recommended Topic Tweets, we’ve increased the size of the context header on the Tweet detail screen.

Fixed

• Accessibility: Improved focusing of entries which are lists for screen reader users.
• Accessibility: Corrected some issues with navigating timelines using the “j” and “k” keys. More updates are in progress.
• Accessibility: Improved labeling of the account switcher.
• Carousels: Fixed issues with keyboard navigation when viewing carousel content fullscreen.
• Composer: The composer will no longer show a flash of a loading spinner when loading the home timeline.
• Conversation Controls: Education for conversation controls will no longer display “you can reply” prompts when viewed while logged out.
• DMs: Fixed an issue where list items were missing borders in the Message requests inbox.
• DMs: You should no longer see the sensitive media interstitial for messages you’ve sent.
• DMs: The filter graphic media setting will now correctly show as enabled by default.
• Education Prompts: We’ve made changes to prevent users from seeing educational prompts after they’ve already been shown.
• Explore: Improved link readability on Explore header content.
• Lists: Private Lists will now display a proper error message instead of a blank screen in cases where the List was not found.
• Lists: Fixed an issue where navigating into Lists from a notification was showing an error.
• Lists: Reordering your pinned lists will now properly save the updated ordering. Also resolved issues with deleting pinned lists.
• Photo Editor: Improved spacing and presentation in the GIF editor.
• Profile: Fixed visibility of the error message on the edit profile screen letting you know name is a required field.
• Text: Fixed an issue where you were unable to highlight certain blocks of text.
• Toasts: Muting an account through the reporting flow will now show the correct screen name in the toast that’s displayed.
• Tweets: Fixed an issue where selecting Like on a Tweet with limited engagements would show a prompt on top of the information modal.
• Tweets: Non-compliant Tweets without a tombstone will now correctly disable Tweet actions.
• Tweets: While editing photos in a Tweet, zooming on iOS should no longer cause broken images.
• Tweets: The “x” key will now correctly trigger the block action when focusing a specific Tweet.

Have you had a chance to check out the new Birdwatch feature yet? Do you think it’ll be effective? Share your thoughts with the community in the comments below and then follow us on Twitter for more tech news.