Author // Mike Kalil
If you’re on Twitter, you have likely started getting email notifications whenever a user replies to one of your tweets or mentions your username. Twitter previously only sent email alerts when a user received direct messages or gained a new follower. The move is a clear attempt to make the service more user-friendly for casual users. Many replies have gone unnoticed simply because users don’t know to log in to check for them.
Twitter says users will not receive notifications for every single @ mention or retweet. Instead, Twitter says, “for now we will only email you when we think it is most relevant.” It’s unclear how Twitter determines which replies or mentions are worthy of email alerts. A lot of spammers randomly @ strangers to get them to visit their affiliate links, so it’s in Twitter’s best interest to prevent users from being alerted of those mentions.
Reaction on Twitter seems to be mixed. While some users say it’s useful, others find the alerts annoying. The change makes Twitter more like Facebook, which sends users notifications when someone posts on their wall or comments on their activity by default. Facebook also recently began sending email alerts to fan page administrators whenever a user “likes” their posts.
To stop the notifications:
1.When signed in, visit http://twitter.com/account/notifications.
2.Uncheck the box that says “Email me when I’m sent a reply or mentioned.”
It doesn’t get much easier than that.
What do you think of the new notifications? Is it a good move on Twitter’s part? Or are they annoying? Comment below!
