Twitter is considering creating special account types for humor and satire accounts, a company spokesman said during a verification press conference Wednesday.
Talking about the company’s already announced plan to create “automated” and “meme” account types in an online presentation for journalists, Twitter product manager Byrne mentioned in passing that the company is not going to stop there.
“So we’re starting with automated accounts. We’re also exploring other types of Twitter accounts,” Byrne explained. “Next on the list are memorial accounts. And we’re also thinking about things like humorous and satirical accounts, which we’ll explore later.”
Byrne’s description suggests that any effort by Twitter to label accounts as “humorous” or “satirical” is at a very early stage. Nevertheless, the move would be consistent with Twitter’s rationale for labeling certain bot accounts as “automatic,” something Byrne said Twitter plans to begin doing this July.
“People want to know who they’re talking to. And understanding the purpose of the account will help people make decisions about engagement, trust and following,” Byrne explained in a call Wednesday.
And if the purpose of the account is to make you laugh or make fun of those in power? Well, Twitter obviously wants to make sure that fact doesn’t go unnoticed.
