Say Goodbye to Threaded Replies
Twitter began experimenting with threaded replies in early 2020, and now the short-lived feature is getting the boot. Threaded replies took the form of a list of responses connected by lines, which would all appear underneath the original Tweet.
This feature was supposed to make conversations easier to read, but Twitter discovered that it had the opposite effect.
A Tweet by Twitter Support revealed that Twitter is getting rid of threaded replies. Based on user feedback, Twitter found that the layout made it “harder to read and join conversations.” As such, it is “turning off this format to work on other ways to improve conversations on Twitter.”
Twitter Comms replied to that initial post, further outlining the various reasons why the platform is removing the feature.
Twitter acknowledged that threaded replies also made it hard to figure out exactly who was talking, and also made it difficult to find context. In the end, threaded replies made conversations more convoluted and difficult to understand, contributing to the feature’s demise.
Twitter Is Also Shutting Down Its Prototype App
On top of getting rid of threaded replies, Twitter also announced that it’s doing away with twttr, its prototype app.
The platform debuted twttr in 2019, which allowed users to test out experimental features that weren’t ready to hit Twitter.
After testing the features, users could give Twitter some feedback, and the platform could decide how to change the experimental features. The threaded reply design was just one of the features that Twitter tested using the app.
Twitter stated that it’s shutting down twttr to “work on new tests to improve the conversation experience on Twitter.” But since Twitter used the language “for now” in its Tweet, this could hint that twttr may not be gone forever.
What Will Replace Threaded Replies?
Now that threaded replies are gone, what will replace them? Replies on Twitter are notoriously disorganized, and Twitter will need to find a proper solution for this tangled mess. Hopefully, Twitter will come up with a more user-friendly feature in the near future.
In the meantime, Twitter has rolled out Fleets, which definitely doesn’t solve any issue on the platform. In fact, no one even asked for this feature.
Fleets are a temporary form of Tweeting, and act similarly to Stories on Snapchat and Instagram. So, what makes Fleets so special in comparison? We don’t really know yet.
