Twitter brings back Google+ Circles for everyone; Android app can now select text

Twitter Circles were first announced earlier this year, bringing back the name and general idea of Google+’s Circles. Now, Circles are rolling out widely to everyone.

What are Twitter Circles? As we covered back in May, the idea here is to send tweets to a select group of users rather than the general public. Up to 150 users can be in a Circle, and tweets sent to a Circle can’t be retweeted or shared. Replies are even kept private, and there’s a prominent badge underneath these tweets.

Twitter explains:

Before you post on Twitter, you’ll now see an option to share your Tweet with either your circle or your full followers list. Circles can contain up to 150 people, and you can adjust who’s in and who’s out at any time. Don’t worry, no one will be notified of any changes you make to your circle.

While the privacy controls here are a bit more locked down, this works a lot like Google+ Circles. The now-defunct social network allowed users to create Circles of friends to group them together, with posts able to be seen in these groups privately if the user chose to do so.

Twitter says that users who have tested Circles over the past few months have felt “more comfortable” tweeting, that it cuts down on toggling between private and public settings, and eliminates the need for secondary accounts in some cases.

Twitter Circles are rolling out now widely across Android, iOS, and the web.

On top of that, Twitter is also rolling out the ability to select text on its Android app. The option was in testing for a while, but our Dylan Roussel noted that selecting text is now widely rolling out on Twitter for Android. This replaces the long-press gesture to copy the entire tweet’s text.

More on Twitter:

• Twitter Blue subscribers on Android can now edit the navigation bar, remove Spaces button
• Twitter app switched ‘Copy link’ and ‘Bookmark’ – Here’s how to delete unwanted bookmarks
• Twitter preps ‘Search Subscribe’ notifications for new tweets matching a search term