Twitter shaping style?

[aesmael]

Recently have noticed an increasing tendency for people in blog discussions to address each other as @name followed by a space, the format used by Twitter for replies. In the past I would mainly see people address each other like so:

Name:

or sometimes

Name:

Interesting development, this. I suspect Twitter did not pioneer that style of reference but I would be very surprised if it were not responsible for popularising it, assuming what I am noticing is a genuine shift.

Comments

[mantic-angel.livejournal.com]

For blogs, I find it more-clearly delineates it as a response, since "@" is a very strong visual marker, especially at the start of a paragraph. So, basically, Twitter has lowered people's reading skills to the point that it is now necessary. No one really reads the rest of the message. I killed them and the bodies are in the back.

[achernow.livejournal.com]

Yes, the @person notation pre-dates Twitter. It traces its roots back to the days of IRC chat rooms and the associated culture. (Actually, a lot of techy type things do.) Twitter, though, as you suspect, is what popularized the use of the @person notation.

Edit: More info on IRC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat

-Adam