Outcry as Twitter turns off replies from strangers

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 13 May 2009 at 17:01

Twitter has sparked a mini-mutiny on its own website after the company changed the way it handles replies.

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The company made the changes late last night, with an announcement on the company's blog, which it described as a "small settings change".

"Based on usage patterns and feedback, we've learned most people want to see when someone they follow replies to another person they follow - it's a good way to stay in the loop," the company explains.

"However, receiving one-sided fragments via replies sent to folks you don't follow in your timeline is undesirable. Today's update removes this undesirable and confusing option."

It seems the Twitter community don't think the change is quite as minor as the company makes out, however, with a raft of protests against the changes.

#fixreplies and #twitterfail have been among the most popular topics on the site all day, as Twitter users register their protest.

The dissenters were egged on by Twitter Celebrity-in-Chief, Stephen Fry, who retweeted a post on the changes with the comment. "What a pity".

Twitter has so far remained mute on the issue, although the company's blog suggests further changes are imminent. "We'll be introducing better ways to discover and follow interesting accounts as we release more features in this space," it claims.