iPhone News Updated

Twitter ejects controversial QuickBar feature from iPhone app

Twitter ejects controversial QuickBar feature from iPhone app

Twitter updated its official iPhone application to remove the QuickBar, a controversial and much-derided feature displaying trending topics within the Twitter ecosystem as well as advertisements.

Touted as a tool to enhance in-app notification and discovery, the QuickBar–a black dropdown strip across the top of the iPhone user’s Twitter feed–first surfaced in an iOS update issued last month; consumer response was almost uniformly negative, and Twitter now calls the feature a “test” to help users discover what’s happening in the world beyond the accounts they already follow.

“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,” writes Twitter Creative Director Doug Bowman on the company’s blog. “Rather than continue to make changes to the QuickBar as it exists, we removed the bar from the update appearing in the App Store today. We believe there are still significant benefits to increasing awareness of what’s happening outside the home timeline. Evidence of the incredibly high usage metrics for the QuickBar support this.”

Twitter now boasts over 200 million users, and generates an average of 1 billion tweets per week. More than 40 percent of all Twitter posts now originate via mobile phone, up from 25 percent a year ago, and 50 percent of all active users tweet across more than one platform, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said in mid-February.

[Thanks: http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com]

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