Twitter Close Friends Feature in Beta Now Called 'Flock' With 150-Person Limit

Twitter continues to work on a new feature that lets users post certain tweets to a limited number of close friends in a parallel timeline on the social media platform.

Twitter Feature
Previously floated in July 2021 as "Trusted Friends," the feature is now called "Flock," and will allow users to limit their audience for specific content to no more than 150 people, according to screens uncovered by mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi.

When a tweet is sent to your Flock, only people in the Flock can view and reply to it, and a label may appear beneath that tweet that reads: "You can see this Tweet because the author has added you to their Flock." However, if you decide you don't want someone in your Flock anymore, you can boot them out of it and they won't get a notification.


Before someone sends a tweet, Twitter will show an option to select its intended audience, allowing users to post it to all of Twitter or only to those in their Flock. In that sense it has similarities with Communities, a feature Twitter launched last year that lets people share discussions on a specific topic.

Flock is still in beta, so it's not clear when the feature will go live for all users, but Twitter has been working on it since at least July of last year. Flock shouldn't be confused with "Fleets," the ephemeral tweet option that was designed to compete with Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories, Snapchat, and more. Fleets never caught on with Twitter users and the company canned the feature in August, less than a year after the feature launched.

Tag: Twitter

Top Rated Comments

iZac Avatar
18 months ago
This actually makes a lot of sense to stop people publicly broadcasting their every waking thought to the whole world.

They could even add an "are you sure?" confirmation button to regular global tweets, to add a little bit more friction for potential mistakes.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Populus Avatar
18 months ago
Perfect, this was the feature Twitter was missing. Now, it will be an even more closed echo-chamber.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AmazeSE Avatar
18 months ago
Flock makes sense. Has a similar meaning like sheep ?
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
metapunk2077fail Avatar
18 months ago
It's insulting enough to be called a follower. To be called a flock is like being slapped in the face and told to make sheep sounds.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BootsWalking Avatar
18 months ago
This feature sounds familiar. I think it's called a "text message".
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
orbital~debris Avatar
18 months ago
That's some good brand-strengthening there. It's a balance though – overdoing the bird-based terminology.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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