Twitter’s Instagram-like ‘Close Friends’ Circle is here

The feature, which is similar to Instagram’s ‘Close Friends’, started being tested in select accounts in May and is now available to all users globally.

Currently, you are able to create one Circle and add up to 150 users in it, whether they follow you or not. 

To send a tweet that you do not want made public to everyone, you will select ‘Twitter Circle’ at the dropdown menu at the top of the compose tweet page. 

Your tweet will then appear at the feed of your circle members (only if they follow you) with a green badge that reads “Only people in @[username]’s Twitter Circle can see this tweet” underneath it.

This means that although you can add someone like, say, @MKapombe, in your Circle, if Mashirima Kapombe does not follow you, chances of her seeing those tweets you love sending about her hair are very low.

Additionally, you will be able to choose who you want in, or removed from your Circle, by tapping the Edit button that appears next to the option. 

Users won’t be notified when you add or remove them from your Circle, and neither does Twitter allow users to leave a Circle.

The only option for one to opt out of a Circle is to block the person who created it.

The feature is an addition to the rarely-used Private Account setting which limits all your tweets to only your followers altogether. Just like tweets from private accounts, users can’t retweet the tweets posted in a Circle.

However, like the case with locked accounts, your tweets will still be to be screen-shot and spread by members of your Circle.