I’m trying hard to embrace the moniker of “X” by forcing myself to use it and forgo the time-tested name of Twitter.
I have to admit though, whenever I read or write “X” my brain has to do somersaults to remember that X is Twitter and Twitter is no longer. Since we’re on the subject of somersaults, let’s move on from this X/Twitter fiasco and discuss the “earth-shattering” news that X has somersaulted their way right out of Circles.
For those of you who never used Circles or don’t have a clue what it is, Circles was a feature that allowed users to post their most intimate and private thoughts to a focused list of their closest friends, fans, and followers.
If you were one of the adopters of Circles you may have used it to send your special peeps paid content for free as a perk, updates about your personal life that you didn’t want the whole world to know, or for pornomiseria because these folks were really in your corner. I like to think of Circles as being my high school “popular table” whereas the rest of X is like well, a giant smelly gym class.
If you never used it, then you won’t be missing anything big, but for the rest of you who found it a nice little feature, it’s gone bye bye.
Why?
Apparently X was chasing their tail in a circle for too long, got dizzy and had to pass out because it didn’t work properly all the time.
I know… Circles is ripe for bad puns and jokes; I’m digging for more as I write.
Anyhow what seemed like a great idea went sideways when users started reporting that the exclusive posts they sent their BFFs got leaked to a bunch of other yahoos that weren’t supposed to be included. EEK! Reminds me of the 80s when you’d profess love for some hottie in a note that somehow got passed around the whole school. So yeah the circle did not go unbroken.
In addition, the feature was kind of… weird.
As reported on by Tech Crunch, you could add people to it who weren’t even following you… and they couldn’t remove themselves!
On the one hand, it was a great ego boosting feature for folks who wanted to dream that Beyonce was their BFF. On the other hand, you could find yourself added to a circle of people you wanted nothing to do with, like your psycho ex-lover with the pet boa constrictor.
Apparently, the demise of Circles all comes down to the fact that it was pretty buggy. Or maybe X gave the feature its walking papers because it had something much more nefarious up its sleeve… as Tech Crunch suggested, maybe they pulled it so they can bring it back and charge cash for those who just can’t do without. Ahhh the circle of life. Ba-dum-bump.
On another note, I got through this whole article using the name “X.” Bravo!
Photo credit: iStock.com/hapabapa
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Alyssa Collins hails from Minnesota, where snowy days were the perfect excuse to stay warm inside and write. Over the years, she turned that joy into a career and has authored numerous articles for various publications (under pen names). Email Alyssa via alyssa@ynot.com.
