title: what benefits are there to using a span instead of input
body: <p>I've noticed on a couple of websites such as <strong>Facebook</strong>, and <strong>Twitter</strong> that instead of using regular <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> fields in their markup, they use a <code>&lt;span&gt;</code> and append what the user types onto it using <strong>JavaScript</strong>. </p>
  
  <p>This process is used both, when a user sends direct messages to other users, when a user posts, <strong>and</strong> when a comment is made on a post.</p>
  
  <p>I can't think of any possible reason as to why this would be beneficial to use over the HTML5 native <code>&lt;input&gt;</code> tag..</p>
  
  <p>So what are the benefits of using this method? And if there aren't any, <strong>why are they doing it?</strong></p>