Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey says Twitter’s latest makeover isn’t set in stone

“A few steps forward, some back,” @Jack tweets.

Henry Dombey for Recode

Twitter has changed some things around, and some of its most active users aren’t happy about it. In other news, water is wet.

To catch you up in case you don’t spend all day on Twitter: This week, the site changed how @replies — the conversations among users — are displayed. As of Thursday, you can direct a tweet at specific people without their username counting against your 140-character-per-tweet limit.

Sounds geeky, but power-user critics have said that the way this change was implemented makes it harder discern for whom a tweet is intended. And Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has jumped right into customer-service mode.

“Still working on this,” he tweeted to author Zeynep Tufekci, who said the design change was hurting conversations. “Wanted to give more characters for replies and put more focus on text. Can’t lose visibility of who’s in.”

“Getting a lot of that feedback,” he acknowledged to the New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo, who had similar concerns. “A few steps forward, some back.”

“No need to be sorry,” he said to BuzzFeed’s Chris Geidner, who called Twitter “stupid” and then apologized. “Appreciate the passion. We’re working hard & fast. Lots of trade offs. Some we’ll get right, others wrong (& will fix).”

So, all of you people who are dissatisfied with Twitter, someone is working on it! Now go outside and enjoy the weekend, there are actual birds out there.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh