Twitter has made what it calls a "small settings update," but it has sent a huge tidal wave through the tweeting community. Given the real-time nature of Twitter, it did not take long to cause such a stir.

Twitter updated the Notices section of Settings, affecting how users utilize replies. "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," said Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone. "However, receiving one-sided fragments via replies sent to folks you don't follow in your timeline is undesirable."

The Twitterverse and the Blogopshere beg to differ. The general consensus seems to be that users do desire the ability to see replies from people they don't know, because it provides an excellent way to discover new people to follow.

Twitter users have banded together to overturn the update by voicing their complaints using the #fixreplies hashtag. Not surprisingly, this is the top trending topic."Spotting new folks in tweets is an interesting way to check out new profiles and find new people to follow," says Stone on the Twitter Blog. "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."

After reading much of the feedback voiced by users, Twitter CEO Evan Williams said in a tweet that they would be considering alternatives on the replies issue. He has also noted that the change does not effect retweeting and there is no change to people replying to you.

Source: webpronews.com