So, Twitter have changed the way you can view @messages and people are in uproar.
Basically, the change means that if someone you follow replies to someone you DON’T follow, then you won’t see that message in your Twitter stream.
Well I say “Yay!”
But people are complaining, arms are raised, and uproar is being tweeted, retweeted and re-retweeted. Hashtags galore are being deployed, and people are complaining that ‘Twitter are taking away our choice’.
Well, I just don’t get the fuss.
Why would you want to see half a conversation? Why would you want your Twitter stream clogged up with “@whoever LOL” when you don’t even follow @whoever?
As I see it, if you follow both parts of the conversation, then you still see the @ messages, but if you only follow one part of the conversation, you won’t.
Maybe I don’t care because I’ve had my settings set to this mode from the beginning – I really don’t want to have to read half of a conversation and then look thought the person I don’t follow to see what is being talked about.
So I’m happy. But loads of people aren’t, and of course that’s their right.
So I asked what the problem was, and the only replies that I got said ‘How will we find good new people to follow without this functionality?’
So, in order to justify this ‘jumping on the opposite bandwagon in the hope of lots of traffic’ post, here are X ways to find new and interesting people to follow:
1) Use Twitter search to search keywords or keyphrases that interst you – read the tweets of people using them and follow those of interest
2) Do the same on Twellow, and also search by industry or area
3) Join one of the many Facebook groups that allow people to post their Twitter names, and a little about what they Tweet
4) Use Twubble to find interesting people among the people your followers follow
5) Use Mr Tweet to suggest new followers to you
6) Are you a member of an online networking forum? I bet there is a ‘follow me on Twitter’ thread
7) Pay more attention to #FollowFriday where people recommend others to follow
Sign up to Twitterel - not only can you find people by keywords, but you can set up an email alert to email you when new people that might be of interest to you are found.
9) Use Friend or Follow to find people who follow you, but you’re not following yet
10) Go to Just Tweet It and see who they recommend, based on new Tweeters, recommended Tweeters, in categories etc
11) Twannabee lets you put in someone’s details and see the people they follow – ideal for following people in certain industries
12) ASK! Ask your followers to recommend their top 3 Tweeters, and why
13) Pay closer attention to Retweets – check out the people that are being retweeted and whether they’re worth following.
14) If you have a blog, put up a blog post stating your Twitter interests and ask people to recommend others for you to follow
15) Post interesting Tweets that people will want to retweet. This will gain you more followers, thus giving you more people to check out.
16) Post questions that promote debate. Ask people to retweet them – you’ll get @ messages from people that don’t follow you and may find some interesting synergies
That’s from the top of my head in 7 minutes (I timed it!), and hopefully will help you to see that there are other ways of finding interesting people to follow, without having to see fragmented conversations in your Twitter stream.
Comments, as always, welcome 
16 Reasons Why The Twitter @ Message Change Isnt A Big Deal http://tinyurl.com/p7lrbl
Silly question maybe….but if the @message function will only be viewed by those that are following that person – will that not effect retweets? Surely the same applies if you send a RT @blahblah if you don’t follow blahblah you won’t see the retweet – right? Or did I miss a trick there? :/
All seems perfectly fair and balanced to me. But then I, like you, have this setting applied already. Yes, there’s a chance that we might miss out on the odd nugget of a new Twitterer. But this “loss” is far out weighed by the benefits.
As a twitter newbie, I found it very useful to see who was chatting with who so that I could choose to follow these people and join in the conversation. As I am particularly interested in the local business community, this is a very easy method – you can pick up very quickly who is in the community without having to rely on information they may or may not have updated on some twitter following website.
I can well see that, as the twitter stream starts getting busier and I cast the net much wider than just friends of friends, I will begin to think as you that these half-conversations are just a nuisance. However, I still want the option rather than having twitter decide for me.
Cheer up Nikki.
I think that Twitter have missed a massive point here. If you follow someone you are following them – warts and all. Why would I only want to read their “general tweets” Social networking is about getting to know the other person. This change means that part of them is missing.
I wondered why my twitter streams had dropped to a drip. Now I know why. I only get them if they are general tweets, or DM’s.
I have made some great contacts by checking out @replies profiles if the topic seems interesting. I simply go and look at the persons profile and tweets and make a decision to follow them or not. This is better than doing searches as they are already in my groups “circle”
For example I would not have found Shaun G was it not for your at replies or FF’s. That would mean I could not have sent him a lead. I found a regeneration expert by and @replies by someone I was following. I have recommended others through finding people via @replies.
I guess the positive side mean I have less Tweets to manage. But I feel I am losing some of the real value of twitter.
Hope you are smiling,
Peter
Hi Nikki.
We kind of talked about this a little earlier so some people will have seen my views on it…..unless they don’t follow us both of course!
Seriously i don’t use the function so won’t miss it but the way i see it there are two key issues here
1) Why remove ANY setting once it is in place and liked by even a small % of your users? Twitter is used in many ways and if some people liked that way of finding new people why take it away?
2) If someone was new to Twitter a month ago and played around with the settings this method of finding new people may have kept them on board as users. They would see how people use twitter in different ways and find a style that suits them. If that same person joined now they might not stay long enough to find out about all the other (more effective) ways of locating interesting and relevant people because their experience was less interesting.
I’m not in uproar. I haven’t hashtagged any complaints, at the end of the day it is Twitters choice and IMHO a mistake but i don’t think it will ruin the business – just change it….very slightly.
That’s probably slightly more than 2p’s worth!
Have realised that I did kind of miss the point anyway and you can just write your message before the @reply instead of after the @reply. So it doesn’t really make any difference but it may change the way people tweet.
Hi Nikki I’m a Twitter newbie think I followed what you where saying, but to make sure will read again shall grab the feed so i can keep up to date.
Thanks
Find Local Tradesmen
QVAEmma is spot on. Twitter clients will be adapted to get round the problem, meaning “replies” turn into “mentions” and it becomes more difficult to see that a tweet is, in fact, a reply.
I don’t think it’s the huge deal it’s made out to be, but I also can’t understand why Twitter didn’t make it an option.
David, that’s exactly the point of the brouhaha – twitter took away any choice in the matter. Those who don’t want to see those ‘3rd party replies’ had the choice and those who did, did. Now there’s no choice whatsoever. Seems a bit Draconian to me, especially since itt seems to have been made without warning.
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