Twitter listened to today’s uproar and has instituted a change. So, hurrah for Twitter for responding to user feedback. I truly appreciate that. And I also realize that Twitter is a free service. Really, I shouldn’t be complaining too much – at least not until I have to pay for my tweeting privileges.

That said, does this make sense?

So here’s what we’re planning to do. 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.

See, it was just easier to paste in their words. As far as I can tell, and I’ve had to re-read it a few times, they’re bringing back the feature, sort of. I can now see any tweet from @twitterX to @twitterY (see earlier examples), as long as they are not created using the Reply button. It’s kind of a WTF moment where you don’t know whether to be happy they brought it back or baffled at the way in which it was returned.

I can’t help but wonder how this affects third-party tools. If I use the Reply button in Seesmic Desktop or Tweetie, is that the same as the Reply button in Twitter.com? Please note that this policy is now there for everyone, including people who had originally opted out of it. ReadWriteWeb has a brilliant chart trying to explain it all.

Now, Twitter is working on a better solution. According to their post, they have “started designing a new feature which will give folks far more control over what they see from the accounts they follow.” Happily this will be an individual user setting (again), and maybe it will come with a bit more explanation (again, see previous rant).

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Sites: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

I was at a meeting today where someone asked me what was going on with Twitter replies and were they broken? So I thought maybe some folks hadn’t read the 50 other blog posts out there and I should mention it as well.

Let’s start off with the basics.  Up until yesterday, there was an option in your Twitter Settings that allowed you to see @replies from people you follow to people you don’t follow.

Example:

I follow @twitterX.

I don’t follow @twitterY.

The following tweet is sent by @twitterX.

@TwitterY Have you seen the new X-Men movie?

In my settings, I could select to see that tweet, even though I don’t follow @twitterY.  Now, because I don’t follow @twitterY, I can’t see that tweet even thought I follow @twitterX.

There’s more.  There are also mentions, a new term to Twitter that is used inconsistently.

Example:

@twitterX sends this tweet:

I went to see X-Men with @twitterY last night.

I can still see that tweet no matter what because it’s not a reply, it’s a mention. A reply is when the tweet begins with @username.  A mention is embedded in the tweet.

It’s all pretty silly, yes?

So Twitter has turned off the ability to see @replies to people you are not following from people you are. I’m actually pretty sad about this. Like many other power users, I tended to use that function to see who else my friends were talking to. From there, I’d check out this new person’s profile and in many cases, follow them myself. After all, friends of my friends could be my friends as well, given the opportunity.

Twitter’s original blog post on this pretty much explained that most people didn’t want to see this “undesirable and confusing option,” so they removed it. What? Really? If it’s that confusing, move it to an Advanced Settings option, but  don’t remove it.

After a lot of hullabaloo and a busy #fixreplies tag on Twitter, they came back with a new response. This time they’re saying that they removed the setting because of engineering issues.

The engineering team reminded me that there were serious technical reasons why that setting had to go or be entirely rebuilt—it wouldn’t have lasted long even if we thought it was the best thing ever. Nevertheless, it’s amazing to wake up and see all the tweets about this change.

I don’t really know how much I believe this reasoning or if it’s just duck-and-cover. Needless to say, I’m sure it’s all been a mini-nightmare for the folks at Twitter.

As they said over at TechCrunch, removing the setting is just dumbing down the already simple system. I’ve said it a hundred times – Twitter does not explain itself well. It has lousy help (Get Satisfaction isn’t satifying to Internet rookies) and has depended on the smarts of early adopters until recently. Now with the Oprah/Ellen/Ashton influx, their lack of good support tools – and good explanations for their tools – is really coming to light. So here is my personal plea to the folks at Twitter:

Dear Twitter:

I’m a tech writer and instructional designer. I love your system but I also have to offer classes on how to use your system. For people like my mom or my grandma, your system isn’t intuitive. It’s intimidating. You don’t explain anything and expect folks to figure it all out by themselves. Some people just aren’t there yet – we’re not all early adopters, you know.

Make your Help system actually Helpful, using, oh I don’t know, a program that supports HELP. Have someone write it. Offer online tutorials. eLearning is inexpensive (I know this because I design it).  When they sign up, offer people a quick optional lesson on getting the most out of your system. Offer them quick optional tutorials on how to set up their account, including those confusing and “undesirable” settings. Things are only confusing when they aren’t explained properly.

I’ve been behind you – an avid user with multiple accounts – since the beginning. I support you and evangelize your system to everyone I know. So please, make it easy for all those non-Internet-savvy folks out there to understand your system, and prove my support was justified.

Thanks!

Michelle
@writetechnology

So those are just my two cents. Do I think that all the hullabaloo today was really necessary? Well, no. But I do think it points out again a shortcoming in Twitter’s documentation/help/training. And the fact that they didn’t recover well from the bad publicity.

Luckily, it’s a Web 2.0 world and we all have short attention spans. Maybe it will all blow over tomorrow.

Your thoughts?

Update: Twitter’s response (and mine)

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Sites: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

by Michelle Lentz

Twitter.com has updated the Replies tab to act more like the Replies in your third-party Twitter application. Oh, you’re using Twitter.com? Then you’ll like this.

The first thing to notice is that the tab no longer reads Replies, and instead is @UserName. Replies are now officially referred to as Mentions.

It now functions differently as well. Previously, only true replies would display in the tab, such as:

@writetechnology We liked your last blog post!

Now, all mentions of your user name (thus the official change to “Mentions”) will display in the tab, such as:

I enjoyed meeting @writetechnology at @tk09.

The above tweet would show up in @ tab for both me and the TK09 account. Previously, that would have displayed in Twhirl, and I assume Tweetdeck, but not actually in the Replies tab on Twitter. This is a pretty cool change, allowing you to better track whenever your user name is mentioned.

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Contact Michelle with news, stories, events, and more.
Email: michelle[at]writetech[dot]net
Twitter: @writetechnology, Friendfeed: michellel
Blogs: Write Technology, Wine-Girl.net

by Brian Solis

After yesterday’s rise and fall of TWPLY, a new Twitter app that delivers @ replies to your inbox, but also sends a spam message to your Twitter followers when you sign up, we learn that the much-discussed app already sold on Sitepoint for just over $1,000.

Thank you to Jé Maverick who introduced us to a new, alternative service in the comments section of our TWPLY post.

Replies by Twitapps is a more elegant solution for receiving @replies on Twitter in your inbox – without requiring your Twitter password. It delivers your updates on an hourly basis or when your replies reach a threshold of 25 tweets (whichever is first).

1. Follow @ta_replies.

2. The Twitapps bot will follow you back and send you a direct message.

3. Reply to that DM with the email address where you want the tweets delivered.

4. Add twitapps@googlemail.com to your address book or safe senders list to ensure you get the emails.

Once you’re registered, you can control our bot using direct messages to @ta_replies. Send stop to stop getting emails and start to get them going again.

For more tools, apps, and services for Twitter, please read, “Twitter Tools for Communications and Community Professionals.”

Connect with me on:
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by Brian Solis

TWPLY is new service that tracks personal @replies and sends them to your designated email inbox. Seems simple enough and may be ideal for those high volume personal and corporate brands that need to actively monitor inbound tweets without having to stay connected directly to Twitter, Twitter Search, or a third-party service.

I’m testing the service now and will report back with my experience.

NOTE: When you log in, TWPLY will post a tweet to your twitter timeline that reads, “Just started using http://twply.com/ to get my @replies via email. Neat stuff!” Many consider this to be Twitter Spam and unfortunately it’s turning people off to the service.

UPDATE: TWPLY is officially hated by the Twitter community and in less than 24 hours, was already sold on SitePoint. CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD.

Connect with me on:
Twitter, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Pownce, Plaxo, Plurk, Identi.ca, BackType, Jaiku or Facebook