Filed under: Business, Social Software, web 2.0
Twitter responds to @reply uproar, announces changes
Here's what Twitter had to say about it:
First, we're making a change such that any updates beginning with @username (that are not explicitly created by clicking on the reply icon) will be seen by everyone following that account. This will bring back some serendipity and discovery and we can do this very soon.
Second, we've started designing a new feature which will give folks far more control over what they see from the accounts they follow. This will be a per-user setting and it will take a bit longer to put together but not too long and we're already working on it.
So, call off the dogs and wait to see what the new settings look like. Perhaps Twitter users will end up with something better than what they had in the first place.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
petitionguy said 6:27PM on 5-13-2009
Yeah, good luck with that. Something tells me it'll take them a while to sort that out, if they ever do.
Please sign my #fixreplies #twitterfail petition here so we can send a crystal clear message about where their core users stand:
http://bit.ly/fixtwitter
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moby said 9:35PM on 5-13-2009
I've given them my feedback already.
Considering it is free, I try to keep things in perspective. However, if this doesn't get fixed, I'll probably end up moving on to other sites. This "setting change" affects one of the core functions and IMHO is one of the primary reasons many folks stay with twitter.
Knowing how "changes" in the past are still not completed, I'm not overly optimistic though. I'm hoping they really understand the fundamental rift this would create in such an innovative and pervasive site.
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JW said 11:07PM on 5-13-2009
I wish they would make the @reply to where it doesn't change my status when I reply to someone. It should be like a direct message but in their feed.
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Victor Agreda Jr said 2:27PM on 5-14-2009
I can see how this wouldn't scale. Imagine the database deep dive that has to occur when searching instances across ALL timelines vs. just searching those you follow.
Still, I don't see how keeping the last 20-50 @replies from people you *aren't* following as being *too* onerous. Who needs 5 days worth of @replies?
This is a rather extreme case, but @mrskutcher (Demi) wouldn't have spotted the woman who was about to kill herself had Twitter's new settings been in place at the time.
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