Twitter Rolls Back Threaded Conversations After Negative Feedback, Kills Twttr App

Twitter users said that new threaded conversations were harder to read and made joining conversations a complicated affair.

By Tasneem Akolawala | Updated: 4 December 2020 15:10 IST

Threaded conversations were first tested on Twttr then brought to the main Twitter app

Highlights

Threaded conversations was to make Twitter conversations more organised
However, users said that it made joining conversations harder
Twitter is now rolling back the feature

Twitter is rolling back its threaded conversation layout that was launched earlier this year. The company said that the feedback it received from users on the new design was not very positive. This layout showed replies to the original post with thin grey lines to form a thread. Twitter said that it will now work on a new design for conversations. Threaded conversations were first tested on Twttr, its prototype app, and then brought to the main Twitter app in May. Twitter also confirmed that it was turning off the Twttr prototype app for now and recommended that Twttr users switch to the main app.

The company announced the roll back of the threaded conversations feature via its Twitter Support account. “We asked and you let us know this reply layout wasn't it, as it was harder to read and join conversations. So, we've turned off this format to work on other ways to improve conversations on Twitter,” reads the post. Users have also suggested that more context was needed in conversations about who they were talking to and Twitter has said that they are working on adding this. The company said that users will also get more control in conversation settings.

For those unaware, the new threaded conversations design looked to make things more organised with “lines and indentations” that was supposed to distinguish between replies to different tweets. The feature was especially introduced to make long conversations with many replies easier to follow. However, feedback suggested that threaded conversations were harder to read and made joining conversations a complicated affair.

Separately, Twitter is also shutting down its Twttr prototype app that was launched last year to test out new features before launching them on the main app. Twitter Support tweeted, “We appreciate the feedback you gave us through this run of our prototype app twttr. For now we're turning it off so we can work on new tests to improve the conversation experience on Twitter. If you're using Twttr, switch to the main Twitter app to keep up with what's happening”.

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