TORONTO – “This message will self-destruct.”
Just like a scene out of Mission: Impossible, Twitter users can now create tweets set to self-destruct after an allotted amount of time, thanks to a new web application.
Efemr, a free web and mobile app, connects to your Twitter account and uses time-coded hashtags to automatically delete your tweet. For example, tweeting #5m will delete the tweet five minutes after it’s sent, #1h will delete the tweet in an hour.
But there does seems to be a slight delay in the app’s disappearing act.
After using the hashtag #1m it took nearly seven minutes for this tweet to be deleted from the Twitter timeline.
The company that makes the application, which is only described as “a Lean Startup” on its website, does not provide any insight into how the application works.
“Now you can control your reputation better, protect your privacy and sharing humorous fleeting moment with the automatic deletion of public tweets,” reads the app’s homepage.
But despite the promise of the automatic deletion of heat-of-the-moment tweets, in the digital age there is no promise that what you say online disappears forever.
“A second way to completely destroy any chance of the tweet disappearing forever is a simple retweet. Efemr has absolutely no control over deleting someone else’s action of retweeting your questionable tweet,” read a report by Digital Trends.
“Even if you’ve asked Efemr to delete your post in one hour, if it was retweeted or even favorited you’re out of luck, and it will live on somewhere.”
Users also weigh the risk of someone taking a screenshot of the tweet.
As social media connoisseurs become more aware of their online footprints – and the effect that it can have on their offline activities – there is a growing interest in “self-destructing” media.
Popular photo-sharing app Snapchat, which allows users to share photos that automatically disappear 10 seconds after being viewed, is widely popular among teens.
In April, Snapchat CEO Evan Spiegal said the application now sees 150 million photos shared on the platform per day.
But even members of the tech community are debating the usefulness of self-destructing media.
“Essentially, the usefulness of the app is up for debate. If you’re thinking ‘I wouldn’t like a potential employer to see this’ or ‘I do hope this doesn’t come back to bite me in a hideous way’ chances are you shouldn’t be posting it on social media in the first place,” wrote Wired U.K.’s Philippa Warr.
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