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@r-a-y:

I was originally thinking along the same line as you. Just filter the @mentions not just for us, but for everyone to see in a tab on everybody’s profile page, right?

However when you really think about it, it’s really kind of redundant. Why would you do that if say you could’ve gone to that person’s profile page, clicked on their @mentions tab and post your message there, without ever trying to figure out what their username is. I mean per se, the @mentions tab will eventually turn into a wall-like tab, right? Typing @ might be an incentive because it is a shortcut without visiting that person’s profile page prior to writing them something. But it is only for people whose usernames you are familiar with.

Actually, it could be a capturing area for both. Either messages with an @ tag or messages posted on that tab will be there. This would be a better implementation. And obviously users should be notified of both when they arrive.

Edit: There is already a solution up there. Put the @username out of the message box (like sending a personal message), and let a message box on the profile page’s @mentions tab behave the same way. Clicking “Send a Public Message” should bring you to that @mentions tab on their profile. Done! This is solved

Arx:

Here’s my suggestion – @mentions tab on a displayed user’s profile.

This solves all concerns about the deprecated wire component.

What does everyone think?

I agree with David about how a user will see the @username and might delete the text.

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Originally posted by Andy:

Why would someone else’s activity display on your activity stream?

True, but I think adding an @mentions page on the displayed-user’s profile would help remedy users who like the wire.

You could make this page viewable if you’re logged in only.

One thing I don’t like about Twitter is I have to go to search.twitter.com to view @mentions of another user.

Excellent point. Not all is lost but I will take this opportunity to provide some feedback to @jjj and @apeatling re 1.2 in it’s current state

1. I get the use of the Twitter @ metaphor and adding “mentions” to the filters. Cool. BUT, it introduces a potential UI snag for users. Throughout 1.2 you make nice use of Display Name which users will become accustomed to and identify with. Now, you are identifying users by their user name as well (mixing metaphors, so to speak) as in ->

John Doe

and

@jdoe

Given people’s tendencies to use whacky usernames, thee is a big risk of confusion when both start popping up around the site. Not sure what the solution is but I think it’s not a trivial point, imho.

2. Now that the wire has disappeared and along comes the concept of “Send Public Message” (I get it) let’s look at what vehicle we’re making use of and what it may mean to users. As it currently stands in 1.2, to “Send Public Message” you click that button on someone’s profile and you are taken to your own Status Update field with an @username filled in.

a. the cursor is highlighted just before the @username not after (don’t forget to include a space) – this will only cause people to write the pubic message and push the @username to the end of the message. clunky

b. You’ll probably need to include a @mentions on each person’s profile page otherwise, you’ll never be able to easily see the public message to @username you just wrote. The key point being, you want this to show up on THEIR profile.

c. Probably worth considering including a notification to @username of said public message via email (make optional)

d. Q: Will these @’s be co-mingled in your own status updates and, thus create confusion. Maybe that doesn’t matter and i am overthinking it.On the activity stream, it says John Doe posted an update, when he really sent @username a public message. In Twitter when @ leads a message as 1st character, it has different context than everywhere else in the Tweet. Perhaps -> John Doe sent @username a public message ? or something.

I know I am getting fine grained here but theses (excellent) feature adds need to be over the top intuitive when introduced or they will breed unintended usages.