Stealing the at-sign was one of @Twitter's smartest branding hacks. They took our need to self-promote and used it as their memetic host.
Think about it. A character that's rarely used, without too many connotations, on all keyboards, easily written.
-
-
An ascii character such as this is some very valuable real estate, and getting people to wilfully share it alongside their identity, genius.
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.