Twitter Rolls Out ALT Badge, Testing New ‘Unmentioning’ Feature

Twitter has announced the global rollout of its ALT badge and exposed image descriptions features. Now, users can enter additional descriptions for their images, which will give such images an ALT badge when uploaded. Clicking on these badges will open up these new descriptions. Twitter’s accessibility team had announced in March that these features were being tested. In related news, Twitter is also currently testing a new ‘Unmentioning’ feature which will give users the option to remove themselves from a conversation.

Twitter made the announcement on Thursday revealing the global release of the ALT badge and exposed image descriptions. The social media giant had worked on bug fixes and gathered feedback through a limited release. These features have been developed with aim of assisting users with visual impairments, who use assistive technology, or don’t have access to high-bandwidth Internet. It is also expected to improve user engagement by providing context to uploaded images. With the announcement, Twitter has also provided a guide for users on ‘How to add image descriptions’. It should be noted that image descriptions have a character limit of up to 1,000 characters compared to the 280-word character limit of a tweet.

Furthermore, the company revealed that it is experimenting with a new ‘Unmentioning’ feature, which will allow users to remove themselves from a conversation. ‘Unmentioning’ is currently only available to a limited number of users only on the web version. A ‘Leave this conversation’ option will appear on the corner menu of a tweet, which will also include ‘mute’ and ’embed’ options. Leaving a conversation will untag your username from the original tweet and all of its replies. It will also prevent other users from mentioning you in the conversation. Finally, you will not receive any notification from it, however, you will still be able to view the tweets.