Twitter is making it easier to sort the good bots from the bad when scrolling through your timeline.
The social media app is adding an “automated” label to accounts belonging to good bots so you’ll know they are trustworthy.
Keep reading to find out more about how Twitter’s “automated” label feature helps you identify which bots are worth your attention.
Twitter Rolls Out “Automated” Label to Identify Good Bots
Twitter is adding an “automated” label to accounts belonging to good bots. The company announced the feature on its official account, saying the aim is to celebrate good bots. Having tested the feature in September 2021, Twitter is now rolling it out to all users.
The “automated” label helps Twitter users identify good bots from bad ones. That’s because, according to Twitter, it helps to “give you more context about who you’re interacting with”.
As described by Twitter’s Oliver Stewart in a blog post, “There are many bots on Twitter that do good things and that are helpful to people”. Examples include bots offering wellness information, weather updates, and useful COVID-19 related news.
But bad bots push the selfish and hidden agendas of the people and organizations behind them, like political agendas. Because the label allows for transparency, those who come across a bot labeled “automated” may be more inclined to trust it.
Bad bots sometimes appear as though they aren’t bots, and that they are normal accounts belonging to everyday people. Their agendas stay hidden, and it’s difficult for users to identify and weed them out. The “automated” label helps good bots to stand out.
How Twitter’s “Automated” Label Works
The “automated” label allows people to link their own Twitter handles to the bot accounts they operate. This provides an audit trail between tweets that a bot posts to its owner’s account.
In other words, each time a tweet pops up from a good bot, you will see the Twitter handle of the person who posted the tweet on the tweet itself. And if you view a profile of a bot labeled “automated”, you will find the handle of the real person running that bot account linked.
This helps anyone who comes across a good bot’s tweets or Twitter profile to know that a real person, with good intentions, runs the account.
Twitter Is Helping Good Bots Establish Goodwill With Users
Sometimes it can be hard to tell good bots from bad ones on Twitter, mostly because bad bots can be so sly and unassuming. Often, by the time anyone catches a bad bot, it’s already caused damage.
The “automated” label helps good bots to be transparent with users by giving them access to the Twitter account of the person running them. This is important because it allows good bots to establish goodwill with Twitter users.
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