Social media site Twitter is giving all its users the ability to hide replies to their tweets on the platform.

Plans for the measure were first announced back in March.

Anyone can choose to hide replies to their tweets, and can see hidden replies, by tapping the grey icon that will appear on the tweets.

The company says this gives the user more control over the conversations they start - but people can still see the entire conversation.

What it looks like when you hide a reply | Source: Twitter

It says: "Everyone should feel safe and comfortable while talking on Twitter. To make this happen, we need to change how conversations work on our service.

"Currently, repliers can shift the topic or tone of a discussion and derail what you and your audience want to talk about.

"To give you more control over the conversations you start, we tested the option for you to hide replies to your tweets.

"We learned that the feature is a useful new way to manage your conversations. Today, we're making this available to everyone globally."

During tests it carried out, Twitter revealed that people mostly hide replies they think are irrelevant, off-topic or annoying.

While some 85% of the people who hide replies are not using 'Block' or 'Mute' options.

People were also curious to see how public figures, like those in politics and journalism, would use this update.

Twitter says that so far, they are not hiding replies very often.

In Canada, 27% of people who had their tweets hidden said they would re-consider how they interact with others in the future.

What it looks like to view a conversation with hidden replies | Source: Twitter

Also they thought it was a helpful way to manage what they saw, similar to muted keywords.

The website says it is working on new controls and more clarity around the rules of conversation spaces.

It will soon be launching a new hide replies 'endpoint' - so developers can build additional conversation management tools.

The option to hide replies is rolling out globally on Twitter's website, iOS, Android and Twitter Lite.