Sometimes social media sites actually respond to user complaints. Twitter has dropped its QuickBar feature from the iPhone app after numerous complaints were voiced online.
QuickBar was launched in early March as a way to show users what is trending on the popular service or show ads.
“The QuickBar never should have been implemented,” said one comment from Tapscape. “While it may have brought something to the table, a setting specific to the feature only would have been welcomed by the multitude of vocal Twitter fanatics.”
The QuickBar was described by The Los Angeles Times as “a small black strip across the top of a user's Twitter feed that would drop down and display what's trending on the microblogging service or show ads.”
In an explanation of events, Twitter Creative Director Doug Bowman said in an official blog post, “The QuickBar was originally conceived to help users discover what’s happening in the broader world beyond people they already follow. The bar was also seen as a potential means of in-app notifications for new @mentions, DMs, and other important activity.”
He confirmed that the QuickBar feature was an experiment that needs to go back to the drawing board.
“We will frequently experiment by trying new things, adding new features, and being bold in the product decisions we make,” Bowman said. “After testing a feature and evaluating its merits, if we learn it doesn’t improve the user experience or serve our mission, we’ll remove that feature.”
Twitter earlier had tried to make small changes to the QuickBar feature (they adjusted it so it did not float over tweets, but was pinned at the top, explained TechZone360). Then Twitter decided to drop it altogether.
But as VentureBeat reports the feature is “not completely dead.”
"We believe there are still significant benefits to increasing awareness of what's happening outside the home timeline," Bowman said. "Evidence of the incredibly high usage metrics for the QuickBar support this. For now, we're going back to the drawing board."
Ed Silverstein is a TechZone360 contributor. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.Edited by
Janice McDuffee
