Twitter may be getting rid of hashtags and @replies soon, according to Vivian Schiller, Head of News at the social networking and micro-blogging platform. While Schiller didn’t actually spell it out, she did say that these two elements were arcane.
It’s one thing when a random person calls some feature or the other on Twitter arcane. But it’s another thing altogether when an executive in a top position at the company thinks some users find hashtags and @replies difficult to understand.
What’s the problem with hashtags and @ replies?
Using a hashtag (# symbol) before a particular word/s or phrase with no spaces at all between marks the entire thing as the keyword in the concerned tweet. Say, you put out a tweet saying #Samsunggalaxy phones are the best.’ When someone searches for Samsung Galaxy in Twitter, your tweet is likely to be found easily.
Also, when they click on #Samsunggalaxy, all the tweets using this hashtagged term will show up. @replies allows people to tag another Twitter user in their tweet so that the mentioned party sees it in their timeline. But the way this works can sound pretty complicated sometimes.
For one, followers won’t been able to see tweets in which you have been @ mentioned unless they’re following both you and the person who has tagged you. Want all your followers to see a tweet you’ve replied to? Make sure you add a period before starting a sentence with the @reply.
Twitter's @vivian calls hashtags & @s "arcane": "We are working on moving the scaffolding of twitter into the background" @cwarzel
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) March 17, 2014
Upcoming changes
But Twitter can do better than the overcomplicated mess it appears to be at times. Once the word about Schiller’s comment got out, Twitter was set afire. Mashable points out to a tweet reply posted by her later which hints that the site could be more intuitive.
The company’s CEO, Dick Costolo, has also said that Twitter could be better. Like all social platforms, it is aiming to make interacting with content on the website easier for everyone, especially new users. Hark back to the day the Retweet button was introduced so users wouldn’t have to manually type in RT to retweet a post.
Can Twitter be straightened out and made much more simpler to engage with? We’re sure we’re not hearing the last of it this year.