Small Settings Update

We’ve updated the Notices section of Settings to better reflect how folks are using Twitter regarding replies. Based on usage patterns and feedback, we’ve learned most people want to see when someone they follow replies to another person they followÃ¢â‚¬”it’s a good way to stay in the loop. 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.

The Importance of Discovery

Spotting new folks in tweets is an interesting way to check out new profiles and find new people to follow. Despite this update, you’ll still see mentions or references linking to people you don’t follow. For example, you’ll continue to see, “Ev meeting with @biz about work stuff” even if you don’t follow @biz. We’ll be introducing better ways to discover and follow interesting accounts as we release more features in this space.

So I’m still trying to figure out what the big deal is. Part of my normal Twitter routine was to scan through my friend stream for original thoughts, ideas and links to which I could reply to. One thing I rarely did was jump in on conversations already happening unless I was following all parties because:

I wasn’t seeing the whole conversation in my stream
It would take too much effort to track down the entire conversation

So for me this new change is great. It’s easier to find other tweeps to converse with without sorting through all the seemingly one sided conversations.

Furthermore, for all the people complaining about losing their method of finding new tweeps to follow, there are PLENTY of ways to find new followers. Twitter even went so far as to say they would be implementing new methods of finding like minded tweeps in the near future.

We’ll be introducing better ways to discover and follow interesting accounts as we release more features in this space.

So once again, what’s the big deal?