Twitter: A new feature in Twitter will allow users to ‘soft block’ followers that they do not want to have anymore. The microblogging platform is rolling out a feature that would let users on the web remove a follower without having to block them, which means they would be able to soft block them. Basically, a soft block would still let the other user see your tweets and also let them send direct messages to you, but they would no longer be able to see your tweets in their feed. It’s basically going back to the stage where the other user never followed you.
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To soft block any Twitter follower, you just need to go to your profile and click on followers. There, locate the follower you wish to soft block. Next to their name, you would see a three-dot menu. Click on this menu and you would see the option to remove the follower. The follower that you choose to remove would not be notified of your decision.
However, it is important to remember that if you soft block a follower, i.e. remove them from your followers, they can always follow you again if they wish to.
This feature can come in handy in cases where users do not wish to completely block another user, but do want some space from them, and it is a little simpler than the previous block and unblock method on Twitter. Earlier, once a user blocked someone, they would have to go to their settings and find their blocklist to unblock the other user if they decided to revert their decision.
The feature can be seen as one of the many steps the microblogging platform has taken to give users more control over how they use and experience the site, especially when it comes to curbing harassment and abuse – something that is sadly becoming increasingly common on the social media platform.
