Twitter Killed and Then Resurrected ‘@’ Names
“Last night took an L, but tonight I bounce back.” – Big Sean.
Twitter is definitely on its Big Sean vibe, as they rolled out an new update that users were less than pleased with.
The latest Twitter update saw the removal of the ‘@’ symbol in replies for iOS users and the introduction of the “Replying to *user*” note.
The update caused some confusion for users as they could not determine who others were replying to in a thread.
The real problem with the latest twitter update re @’s is that I can no longer tell if they’re replying to me or someone else in the thread.
— deray mckesson (@deray) December 9, 2016
the new twitter update makes it look like people are talking to themselves
— ㅤice queen (@urbandoll) December 8, 2016
Users were noticeably upset with the update and they definitely voiced their displeasure.
@Support It needs to be reversed. It’s terrible
— susan vavrick (@edit_susan) December 9, 2016
This new twitter update makes it seem like we’re all talking to ourselves on the TL now.
Got us replying to people looking like pic.twitter.com/XLjGG1W8sv
— Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) December 9, 2016
@Support how dumb are you that this experiment even left the whiteboard? pic.twitter.com/OUKmbhPEj4
— Sam Sabri (@samsabri) December 9, 2016
twitter, just apologize for this update and go back to normal. we won’t be mad.
— Yousef Saleh Erakat (@fouseyTUBE) December 9, 2016
@Support, the company’s official support account, tweeted out that it was just an experiment and that they are listening to the feedback from users.
Today, an experiment around replies accidentally went out to everyone on iOS briefly. Upside, we got helpful feedback – we’re listening!
— Twitter Support (@Support) December 9, 2016
Since then, the update has been reversed and the ‘@’ symbol has been returned to replying tweets. Twitter has thus indeed bounced back. Now, we impatiently wait for the day Twitter finally gives us the opportunity to edit tweets.
