Will Twitter #removehashtags and '@' replies?

Micro-blogging site Twitter may soon get rid of its its core features hashtag (#) and at-replies (@) symbols, according to a report.

Micro-blogging site Twitter may soon get rid of its its core features hashtag (#) and at-replies (@) symbols, according to a report.

According to BuzzFeed, Vivian Schiller, head of news at Twitter said at-replies and hashtags are "arcane" and she also hinted that Twitter might soon move them into the background of the service.

Schiller was speaking at the Newspaper Association of America's mediaXchange conference in Denver on Monday.

Schiller later retracted her comments and tweeted saying Twitter is 'not at all' considering getting rid of the symbols.

@StKonrath@cwarzel Not at all

— Vivian Schiller (@vivian) March 19, 2014

The report also said Schiller was basically echoing what CEO Dick Costolo had said in a recent earnings calls.

Costolo had said, "By bringing the content of Twitter forward and pushing the scaffolding of the language of Twitter to the background, we can increase high-quality interactions and make it more likely that new or casual users will find this service as indispensable as our existing core users do."

Costolo's statement, however, had not specifically mentioned the @ and # symbols.