The twitter mute button

Abstract

The microblogging service Twitter has become an important, and sometimes primary, source of information for many users. As a forum for sharing news and discussing events, it can provide instant access to the latest updates, but this is not always welcome. In the case of television shows or live sporting events, for example, tweets about them may reveal spoilers to users in different time zones or who are delaying their viewing until later. More broadly, because Twitter is a broadcast medium, users may often want to temporarily or permanently hide content about a very specific given topic.