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Unfortunate Twitter change

by Dana_W
31 replies
#fixreplies Controversy: Twitter Users Want @Reply Options Back

Twitter just made this weird change to the reply system. Here's why this is bad from a marketing system. Previously I could go reply to a big name famous person who WASN'T following me - and people could find that through searches - and the famous person could see it and enter into a conversation with me - which meant that a lot of his/her followers would see it too and follow me back.

Now you can only reply to people following you back.

Apparently this is so controversial that Twitter is considering changing it back; hope so!
#change #twitter #unfortunate
  • Profile picture of the author Frank Murphy
    Originally Posted by Dana_W View Post

    #fixreplies Controversy: Twitter Users Want @Reply Options Back

    Twitter just made this weird change to the reply system. Here's why this is bad from a marketing system. Previously I could go reply to a big name famous person who WASN'T following me - and people could find that through searches - and the famous person could see it and enter into a conversation with me - which meant that a lot of his/her followers would see it too and follow me back.

    Now you can only reply to people following you back.

    Apparently this is so controversial that Twitter is considering changing it back; hope so!
    Absolutely Dana! How can they make these kind of drastic changes and expect us marketers to keep quiet about it??
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    • Profile picture of the author holdem8
      This is bad Hope that they change it back. Did not know that this is one of the techniques to get more followers. Thanks for the tip!
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    • Profile picture of the author Jeremy Kelsall
      lol

      Originally Posted by Lady NaNa View Post

      Absolutely Dana! How can they make these kind of drastic changes and expect us marketers to keep quiet about it??

      I don't think they built their system for marketers...So, it is likely that they don't care
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    • Profile picture of the author Dmitry
      Originally Posted by Lady NaNa View Post

      Absolutely Dana! How can they make these kind of drastic changes and expect us marketers to keep quiet about it??
      Loved it!
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  • Profile picture of the author Stefan Vee
    Isn't a reply a requirement to get noticed by a potential follower?
    Why would I follow someone if he/she didn't interact with me?
    That "change" won't last long as "interaction" is the core of the Twitter platform
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Awesome results there!

    If you don't like the Twitter change, go on Twitter and Tweet about it, with the hashtage #fixreplies.

    That is the number one topic on Twitter right now! It says so on the right side of the Twitter screen.
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  • Profile picture of the author WinsonYeung
    That's really making us inconvenient to market in Twitter. But twitter is not made just because of us (internet marketer) but for people who want to share their life with their friends. To them, Twitter is a social network tool instead of a marketing tool so I can understand why they are making this changes.
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      [DELETED]
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      • Profile picture of the author Haydies
        I run a website (discussion forum) and use Twitter to not only post updates about the site and link to discussion threads etc (so I guess, in a way, marketing the site), but also to chat to other people who either use the site, or are in the same region.

        It's a game related site, and a lot of the great people I chat to now, I've met through @replying to one of their posts. They'll likely see a mass exodus (or at least a whole lot of people stop using it as much) if they follow through with that change.
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        • Profile picture of the author ShayB
          Another way to get noticed by people on Twitter is to recommend them for Follow Fridays.

          Use the #followfriday hashtag and recommend 4 or 5 people per tweet for your followers to follow. Try to group them by a category - IMers, writers, moms, etc.

          Not only does your tweet show up as an @reply to the person you recommend, but you will also show up in the #followfriday conversation stream. Both ways to get new followers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Bestel
    Originally Posted by Dana_W View Post

    Now you can only reply to people following you back.
    I don't think that's quite right Dana.

    Let's use a real world example.

    I follow Jason Moffatt. He doesn't follow me because that's not how he utilises Twitter. If I send him a tweet, you're saying he won't now see it.

    But he will.

    Say for example that you weren't following Jason but were following me, you wouldn't see my reply to Jason because he's not on your list.

    Twitter are now using the "@replies to the people I'm following" setting as the only option. So, if someone you follow posts a reply to someone you do NOT follow, you will NOT see it in your home page.

    Follow?

    As far as I can tell this rule is ignored if you don't start your tweet with @username. So if you want your tweets to be visible, always start with something like,

    Thanks @Dana_Willhoit for alerting us to this

    Not great, I know, but a workaround.

    I've now confused myself so I'm off for a cup of tea. Anyone want one?

    Peter
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  • Profile picture of the author Dana_W
    Yes, Peter, send me some tea. And I expect it to still be hot when it gets here.

    I'm still trying to figure out exactly what this change means but at the very least - if I reply to someone who is NOT following me - as far as I can tell - the people following that person can no longer see it.

    I understand that Twitter is trying to maintain a quality experience for its users. I just hope that they can figure out some alternative to this change to @replies, because it eliminates one way to find good, targeted people to follow, and makes it harder to promote oneself on the site. And yes, yes, I know that Twitter isn't created for marketers.
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    • Profile picture of the author drmani
      Originally Posted by Dana_W View Post

      I'm still trying to figure out exactly what this change means but at the very least - if I reply to someone who is NOT following me - as far as I can tell - the people following that person can no longer see it.
      In the past, in your 'Settings' tab, you had 3 choices to handle @ replies.

      The default setting was 'Only for those I am following'

      The others were 'None' and 'Everyone' (I think) (Twitter says 2% of users changed it from the default setting)

      The furore now is that this is now made the ONLY setting (no choice) and interferes with 'discovery' - the ability to find new, interesting people to follow based on the conversations those you are following engage upon with THEIR network.

      Twitter supposedly also has increased demands on their servers due to the 'everyone' option, especially as the network grows exponentially. Considered as primarily a messaging system between 'friends', there really isn't much need for @ replies of everyone in a network to be accessible/visible to all... they feel/felt!

      All success
      Dr.Mani
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Motley
    The day i wake up and this is seriously the biggest issue of my day i hope someone punches me in the nose.

    Every man that is replying in this thread without the driving purpose of your post being your outrage at your loss of income, you need to turn in your dude card immediately.
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    • Profile picture of the author Angela V. Edwards
      Originally Posted by Michael Motley View Post

      The day i wake up and this is seriously the biggest issue of my day i hope someone punches me in the nose.

      Every man that is replying in this thread without the driving purpose of your post being your outrage at your loss of income, you need to turn in your dude card immediately.
      I am not sure I follow. This IS a large part of Dana's income (she's the Twitter Queen) and probably many of the other people who are commenting about it have at least a portion of their income tied to Twitter. It may not sound like a big issue to YOU, but to others it just might be.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
    The #1 trending topic right now on Twitter is #fixreplies so they're getting an earful. Please go re-tweet one of the many tweets about this so they bring it back.

    Twitter: What are you doing?

    You can RT this post from mashable right from the post, just click on the "retweet" button:

    http://mashable.com/2009/05/13/fixreplies-2/
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  • Profile picture of the author Tyrus Antas
    I was wondering why my twitter page was so silent today. It stops "reply hell", I say its a good thing.

    Tyrus
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  • Profile picture of the author Alan Petersen
    From the blog post it appears it was a scalability issue. So does that mean no more fail whale?

    Looks like they'll come with a new solution at least. Good thing the 2% spoke up!
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  • Profile picture of the author Devon Brown
    My Twitter is much more quiet and I was pretty unhappy about the change. I still am because I sometimes like reading those conversations.. that's how I find new and interesting people to add to my Groups list.
    Now.. it all seems like noise. :/
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  • Profile picture of the author iddigger
    Is twitter really a good way to marketing ? half the time I login during the day it's so slow and the site doesn't fuction right.
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    • Profile picture of the author DavidTheMavin
      Originally Posted by iddigger View Post

      Is twitter really a good way to marketing ? half the time I login during the day it's so slow and the site doesn't fuction right.
      It's been a lot better the past few weeks from what I've seen.

      It's down again for maintenance, and I think they're changing the reply thing back
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidCarter
    Most of us are getting round it by starting off tweets with 'dear @username' or something similar
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  • Profile picture of the author Charlie Parker
    I'm surprised so many people even used this feature.
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  • Profile picture of the author Randy Bheites
    Originally Posted by Dana_W View Post

    Now you can only reply to people following you back.
    Well now that's just stupid. People want to be free to interact. Why on earth would I even bother to follow someone who does not at least initially enter into a conversation with me?

    Also, I have a lot of friends/acquaintances I might send a personal note to that I don't want to hear every last detail of their lives about, so I don't follow them.

    Limiting natural interaction is suicidal to an interaction tool.
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    • Profile picture of the author tarabyte
      What's wrong with just making two tabs?

      One for "friend" replies, and one for "all" replies.

      That would seem logical.
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  • Profile picture of the author askloz
    have you also noticed that DM's ppl can get around the 140 char limit?

    I had one guy send me a DM and it had about 500 chars in it... then when I made a post to the guy, next day, twitter made a change to it... i kept his DM message, and now it's been trunctioned off at 180 chars, still 40 over the limit
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