Twitter, just like any other company, usually pushes updates to its users periodically where they fix some nagging issues or introduce new features entirely. The process usually involves testing these changes to a small section users who are in beta before releasing the update to everyone after all the bugs are squashed.
Well today Twitter was in a bit of a sticky wicket after they rolled out an update to iOS users which caused an uproar from the users. The update was connected to the earlier announcement made by Twitter where they were going to reveal a new way of replying to people by not counting the characters on the handle.
Today, an experiment around replies accidentally went out to everyone on iOS briefly. Upside, we got helpful feedback – we’re listening!
— Support (@Support) December 9, 2016
That experiment “accidentally” went out to everyone which is not the usual case when dealing with updates since it has to be pushed to the beta users before releasing it widely. This was a drastic change to people when it was released on Android since you dont actually see the handle of the person you’re replying too and this can cause confusion to people unaware of the changes. However, Twitter rolled the update back (seems it was a server side update) and the CEO, Jack Dorsey confirmed it.
Always working to simplify & make Twitter better for everyone. Appreciate all the feedback (and apologies for the confusion). Learning fast. https://t.co/TeIsmNubgd
— jack (@jack) December 9, 2016
The change is obviously inevitable (it is already live on Android) and it is part of Twitter’s plan to make the experience easier for new users. It was meant to free the characters on the Twitter handles so that you can have the entire 140 characters for your tweet. However, the update already has made current users uneasy but eventually we will all get used to the new order.
