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Twitter is pondering changes to the way replies work, to make the site “feel more conversational”.
Sara Haider, Twitter’s director of product management, shared some images on the site showing off a couple of potential new features – “reply threading” and a status indicator to show if you’re online and available to chat.
hey Twitter. we've been playing with some rough features to make it feel more conversational here. presence and reply threading. still early and iterating on these ideas. thoughts? pic.twitter.com/3U3NvpHWPy
— Sara Haider (@pandemona) August 31, 2018
The images show reply tweets indented and coloured, depending on who sent them, with a green dot appearing on the profile picture of users who are available to talk.
There was a mixed response to the proposals from Twitter users, with some praising the threading feature for making conversations easier to follow.
Others felt the layout was too cluttered with not enough white space, and others questioned whether it was helpful for other Twitter users to know if and when you are online.
In response, Haider said: “This is just a start, but one of the things we’ve been thinking about is how to signal specifically that you’re online and looking for conversation.”
for sure. but there's something about being avail for conversation *right now*. like for example, checking Twitter silently while distracted a meeting, vs being on the train for 45 mins
— Sara Haider (@pandemona) August 31, 2018
Others raised the possibility that the “presence” feature could be misused on a platform which has been criticised in the past for its struggles in combating online abuse.
great feedback thanks! would definitely want you to have full control over showing presence.
accessibility also v important!
ty for sharing
— Sara Haider (@pandemona) September 1, 2018
In her tweets, Haider emphasised that the proposals are at an early stage of development.
There is no hint about when, or even if, the features will go live.
