Twitter Circle allows users to 'Choose Audience' and send Tweets to up to 150 people

Twitter is testing “Twitter Circle”, a free iteration of the “Super Follows” subscription model. The feature will allow a Twitter account to send out Tweets to select users.

Twitter Circle will let users select up to 150 people to join their chosen audience. They can add followers as well as non-followers to a circle. Essentially, users can avoid sending a Tweet that is viewable by everyone, and still ensure the message is sent to a sufficiently large group.

Twitter has indicated that the feature is already live for a select few users, but hasn’t confirmed when everybody will get it. To send a Tweet to the predefined group of people, Twitter users will have to pull up the Choose Audience menu while writing a tweet and choose Twitter Circle instead of Everyone:

Twitter assures Twitter Circle is different from “Communities”, which also hide tweets away in an attempt to prevent “context collapse”. The micro-blogging network claims Communities tie Tweets to particular discussions, while Twitter Circle will involve standard Tweets that aren’t available for everyone to see.

There are certain restrictions to the Tweets that are sent using the Twitter Circle feature. People who are members of the user’s Circle will be able to see the Tweets, but the built-in retweet icon will be greyed out. Hence Circle members cannot share such Tweets automatically. Twitter has no way to prevent users from taking a screenshot and sharing an image of the Tweet sent using the Twitter Circle feature. A person who is in a Twitter Circle cannot remove themselves but can mute a discussion.

It appears Twitter is trying to offer a midway solution to a fully locked account and a public account. Twitter hasn’t indicated how many Twitter Circles users can create. Currently, the select few users who have access to the new feature can only create one. The Twitter Circle feature will eventually be available to users across iOS, Android, and the web.