Twitterers revolt over site changes

Twitter has tweaked the way users see information, hiding @replies from people you don't follow.

The update was announced on the site's official blog, where it explained: "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.

"However, receiving one-sided fragments via replies sent to folks you don't follow in your timeline is undesirable. Today's update removes this undesirable and confusing option."

Twitterers are revolting

As the makers of Facebook know, regular users fear change. Twitter is no exception, and like clockwork #fixreplies and #twitterfail are topping the site's Trends section (most popular things discussed on Twitter) with many a user revolting against the update, believing that it is stopping them from discovering new people to follow on the site.

It has sparked some confusion in the community, however, as many users never actually had the option switched on to begin with so haven't actually noticed anything different.

New ways of discovery

The bods behind Twitter are hoping to add some new features to the site soon, which will aid the discovering of new Twitterers a little better.

"Spotting new folks in tweets is an interesting way to check out new profiles and find new people to follow," states the 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'."