X's Twitter Circles feature to be retired soon
X, formerly known as Twitter, has notified its users that it will be shutting down Circles, a feature that allowed users to share tweets with a limited group of people. X confirmed this decision on both its help pages and via an X post.
Only time will tell whether Communities will be able to fill the void left by Circles. In the meantime, users who are looking for a way to share tweets with a limited group of people may want to consider using other platforms, such as Facebook Groups or Discord servers, among other existing platforms.
Twitter launched Circles since last year, before it subsequently became X, but the feature never gained widespread adoption. In its Help Center, X updated the feature description as follows:
X is deprecating Circles as of Oct 31st, 2023. After this date, you will not be able to create new posts that are limited to your Circle, nor will you be able to add people to your Circle. You will, however, be able to remove people from your Circle, by unfollowing them as described below.
PSA: we’re disabling Circles by October 31.
— Support (@Support) September 21, 2023
more info → https://t.co/sHY9l6SUFw
X didn't specify the reason why this feature will be deprecated, and it is unclear why it has chosen this moment to do so. Additionally, it remains to be seen how this decision to shut down Circles will be met by the users who actually use it.
Some have expressed that Circles is far too similar to the Communities feature, and that may be a reason why X has decided to do away with one. It does make sense that as X tries to curb expenses and further monetize the platform, they get rid of features that seem redundant focus on developing features that are more widely used.
Only time will tell whether Communities will be able to fill the void left by Circles. In the meantime, users who are looking for a way to share tweets with a limited group of people may want to consider using other platforms, such as Facebook Groups or Discord servers, among other existing platforms.
The feature will not be retired until October 31st though, so you will still have over a month to use it or find an alternative if this something you utilized often. One thing that is clear is that X is not done making changes to the way it operates, so it is definitely possible that more features should eventually meet the chopping block.
FCC OKs Cingular\'s purchase of AT&T Wireless
Things that are NOT allowed: