Ask HN: Am I the only one baffled by the long term usage of Twitter?
111 comments
Ironically, this "Ask HN" post isn't much different than the kind of rant thread one sees on Twitter all the time, including the comments from people piling in to agree with the rant.
There's nothing particularly constructive, no suggestion for "fixing" the problems you articulate, it's a human being—you— talking about their perfectly valid feelings—that Twitter is a waste of focus.
If you can understand why you feel it's valuable to post this rant on HN and have a conversation in public with those who choose to reply to it, you can understand why people post rants on Twitter.
p.s. If HN was nothing except these Ask HN posts, it would be Twitter. What makes it HN is that this kind of post is infrequent.
p.p.s. I don't object to this post on HN or the value of having a conversation about what makes another social media site good/bad/meh.
There's nothing particularly constructive, no suggestion for "fixing" the problems you articulate, it's a human being—you— talking about their perfectly valid feelings—that Twitter is a waste of focus.
If you can understand why you feel it's valuable to post this rant on HN and have a conversation in public with those who choose to reply to it, you can understand why people post rants on Twitter.
p.s. If HN was nothing except these Ask HN posts, it would be Twitter. What makes it HN is that this kind of post is infrequent.
p.p.s. I don't object to this post on HN or the value of having a conversation about what makes another social media site good/bad/meh.
Eh, don't lionize HN too much; it's not the intellectual bastion folks sometimes pretend, it's just the advertising arm of YCombinator (though dang will disagree with that if you ask him).
Who's lionizing HN? I've been here for fifteen years and could write fifty of these rants about it.
Maybe he's looking to get a more thoughtful analysis than can be had in the twitter verse. It is a common problem and might be aided by better UI or custom features to encourage better discourse. It's also a question of lifestyle. That being said, I am admittedly out of ideas on this one. Never been a fan of twitter.
I suspect there is something about the social dynamics of a small community vs. a widely used public network. Social network platforms (used loosely) have had this issue for a long time - consider "eternal september" and usenet. Reddit has some sub-reddits that are well moderated and have great contributors, as does HN (at least at its best). I'm not sure what twitter could do that wouldn't also reduce its audience and overall engagement. And one of the big factors with a small community are social norms - these aren't technical - though the platform can influence the incentives to maintain the norms.
Absolutely positively one would expect different outcomes here than there. Even if the exact same people see this comment here as there, the platforms systemically optimize for different outcomes.
For example, this forum is moderated, Twitter is almost completely unmoderated. This forum allows for longer replies but bans pictures. Twitter forces you to create threads, but allows pictures.
For example, this forum is moderated, Twitter is almost completely unmoderated. This forum allows for longer replies but bans pictures. Twitter forces you to create threads, but allows pictures.
This platform is definitely more awkward to use, but, in many ways, I find it to be a feature. I rarely comment, but even the upvoting/downvoting/flagging I find to be a distraction. NOtifications are definitely convenient, but they no doubt encourage arguments that go on too long. HN doesn't make for an easy back and forth.
It has other anti-yelling-past-each-other features. For example, after a comment is made, there's a delay before anybody is allowed to reply.
I doubt anybody in the middle of an argument would cool down and change their minds, but it does provide an opportunity to go look at something else and forget about going back and dropping that zinger you planned to launch...
I doubt anybody in the middle of an argument would cool down and change their minds, but it does provide an opportunity to go look at something else and forget about going back and dropping that zinger you planned to launch...
I recently concluded that there may be "too much" when it comes to the democratization of communications - particularly when reaching a wide audience.
It's pretty orthogonal to my views otherwise, but its the only thing that can explain how social media distorts things. Giving every Tom, Dick and Harry a mouthpiece that can reach millions is probably a maladaptation to a healthy and productive society.
A person who before might have before just been a village or local kook, can now be a guiding voice to millions, with little effort on their part, and little way for the rest of us to push back.
It's pretty orthogonal to my views otherwise, but its the only thing that can explain how social media distorts things. Giving every Tom, Dick and Harry a mouthpiece that can reach millions is probably a maladaptation to a healthy and productive society.
A person who before might have before just been a village or local kook, can now be a guiding voice to millions, with little effort on their part, and little way for the rest of us to push back.
This is true, but the comparison also raises a further question: do Twitter, HN, other places support kinds of discussion besides this, and to what extent? And depending on the answer, are they worth participating in? I think that part of the OP's point is that Twitter is strongly inclined to this kind of interaction, which has to factor into a person's decision whether to use it.
I don't disagree, I'm joust pointing out that it should be easy to see why people post the kinds of things on Twitter that the OP is posting here.
Hilariously true. I upvoted you and the poster just so this point gets more attention. Had to comment as well to make sure it stays ranked highly enough to see under “Active” as well.
I enjoy being on Twitter a lot. In the past year I've started "taking it seriously" in terms of growing an audience, and it has been a blast. I've set up three rules for my being on Twitter[0]:
• Encourage other people - if you like the work someone is doing, tell them!
• Be positive - a feed full of negativity is zero fun to follow.
• Share what you're working on - people are drawn to other people in motion.
I also am very careful about who I follow. I don't "hate-follow" anyone. And I'm pretty liberal with regard to muting stuff.
There is a big trend right now (or always?) of people grifting on Twitter, and I mute every single one of those people. It's all the engagement-bait stuff that you're probably super familiar with. Questions that aren't questions, half-baked thought threads, and hot takes that are only there to gin up "engagement."
I recorded a podcast[1] with some friends recently about how to use Twitter as a human being and not a grifter. They were both super anti-Twitter and I was able to swing them my direction a bit. I think most people just follow the wrong people and get sucked into the hate machine.
There are definitely corners of Twitter that are a lot of fun and very valuable!
[0] https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis/status/1434287141887021058
[1] https://share.transistor.fm/s/c854b56e
• Encourage other people - if you like the work someone is doing, tell them!
• Be positive - a feed full of negativity is zero fun to follow.
• Share what you're working on - people are drawn to other people in motion.
I also am very careful about who I follow. I don't "hate-follow" anyone. And I'm pretty liberal with regard to muting stuff.
There is a big trend right now (or always?) of people grifting on Twitter, and I mute every single one of those people. It's all the engagement-bait stuff that you're probably super familiar with. Questions that aren't questions, half-baked thought threads, and hot takes that are only there to gin up "engagement."
I recorded a podcast[1] with some friends recently about how to use Twitter as a human being and not a grifter. They were both super anti-Twitter and I was able to swing them my direction a bit. I think most people just follow the wrong people and get sucked into the hate machine.
There are definitely corners of Twitter that are a lot of fun and very valuable!
[0] https://twitter.com/aarondfrancis/status/1434287141887021058
[1] https://share.transistor.fm/s/c854b56e
I'm on a similar philosophical trajectory and I think there are enough folks like you that make Twitter interesting and fun without the caustic parts of social media.
Another excellent example of this positive and no BS version of Twitter (though probably well-known on HN already) is Andreas Kling [0] (creator of SerenityOS).
[0] https://twitter.com/awesomekling
Another excellent example of this positive and no BS version of Twitter (though probably well-known on HN already) is Andreas Kling [0] (creator of SerenityOS).
[0] https://twitter.com/awesomekling
Thank you! I agree, I think there are a surprising number of people on Twitter that just want to make stuff and hang around other people that make stuff. Perhaps the loudest people are the hot-take / outrage / breaking news folks, but I just don't follow them! I follow other makers! It makes it a lot of fun.
Sounds like a great strategy. One of the advantages is that you’re differentiated from the accounts that are feeding the hate machine. There is a hunger out there for authentic positivity, and it’s in short supply.
> There is a hunger out there for authentic positivity
I think you nailed it with that.
One of the things I'm fond of saying is "being excited is underrated." If you're actually excited about something you're working on, or something cool that someone else is doing, be excited! I think lots of people try to hard to be "cool" instead of potentially letting themselves look silly by being excited. (Also this goes well beyond Twitter, into real life.)
I think you nailed it with that.
One of the things I'm fond of saying is "being excited is underrated." If you're actually excited about something you're working on, or something cool that someone else is doing, be excited! I think lots of people try to hard to be "cool" instead of potentially letting themselves look silly by being excited. (Also this goes well beyond Twitter, into real life.)
> I don't "hate-follow" anyone.
It blows my mind that anybody would actually do this, but I guess it's a thing.
It blows my mind that anybody would actually do this, but I guess it's a thing.
Why are you considering "gain a following" to be the purpose of using Twitter?
I use it to collect people I follow, post some snarky tweets that amuse myself and my wife, and occasionally interact with people I normally wouldn't otherwise.
In that regard, it's successful.
For the people you're following, it's massively successful as a platform of promotion. I'm constantly looking to the people I follow for their takes on current events, and I love how unfiltered/direct it is, given the length restriction. If I like someone consistently, I'll seek them out on other, probably more-profitable for them, platforms.
If Twitter depresses you, I think then life is probably generally depressing; there's nothing uniquely "useless" or "meaningless" about Twitter, no more so than posting this comment on HN or literally anything else that's to be swallowed by our sun going supernova in a few billion years...
I use it to collect people I follow, post some snarky tweets that amuse myself and my wife, and occasionally interact with people I normally wouldn't otherwise.
In that regard, it's successful.
For the people you're following, it's massively successful as a platform of promotion. I'm constantly looking to the people I follow for their takes on current events, and I love how unfiltered/direct it is, given the length restriction. If I like someone consistently, I'll seek them out on other, probably more-profitable for them, platforms.
If Twitter depresses you, I think then life is probably generally depressing; there's nothing uniquely "useless" or "meaningless" about Twitter, no more so than posting this comment on HN or literally anything else that's to be swallowed by our sun going supernova in a few billion years...
> post some snarky tweets that amuse myself and my wife, and occasionally interact with people I normally wouldn't otherwise.
If you don't occasionally go back and prune the former tweets, you may find yourself interacting with many new people!
If you don't occasionally go back and prune the former tweets, you may find yourself interacting with many new people!
With whom you probably really didn't want to ever get to know.
Twitter is exactly as good or as awful as the set of people you follow. If you carefully limit the set of people you follow, avoiding folks who retweet random clickbait and focusing on people who post interesting things, your Twitter feed can work quite well.
Likewise, don't try to deliberately gain followers; if you're doing interesting things and posting about them, you'll gain followers anyway.
But also, if you don't enjoy Twitter, you don't have to use it; you don't have to have a "presence" there if you don't find it useful and productive.
Also:
> Tech twitter thinks just because they are good at programming, they have a valid view on topic Y.
Those users exist everywhere. Many people would say the same about many HN users.
Likewise, don't try to deliberately gain followers; if you're doing interesting things and posting about them, you'll gain followers anyway.
But also, if you don't enjoy Twitter, you don't have to use it; you don't have to have a "presence" there if you don't find it useful and productive.
Also:
> Tech twitter thinks just because they are good at programming, they have a valid view on topic Y.
Those users exist everywhere. Many people would say the same about many HN users.
> avoiding folks who retweet random clickbait
I'd slightly alter this advice to: don't hesitate to use the "turn off retweets" feature. On a per-follow basis, you can individually decide whether you want to see retweets from each individual account you follow, and it's a great feature. Some accounts are good to follow on their own, but unbearable if your feed is full of everything they retweet.
I'd slightly alter this advice to: don't hesitate to use the "turn off retweets" feature. On a per-follow basis, you can individually decide whether you want to see retweets from each individual account you follow, and it's a great feature. Some accounts are good to follow on their own, but unbearable if your feed is full of everything they retweet.
Absolutely true. But also, don't hesitate to not follow someone, even if you know them, if they're too high-volume or low signal-to-noise ratio.
There are people I know, who I consider friends, but don't follow on Twitter because they're too high-volume and would drown out the rest of my feed. (I use reverse-chronological and do actually read everything.)
There are people I know, who I consider friends, but don't follow on Twitter because they're too high-volume and would drown out the rest of my feed. (I use reverse-chronological and do actually read everything.)
I have been using Twitter for a year or so and mostly follow journalists, publications and some industry leading people relevant to my career. I see an interesting tweet maybe once or twice a week. Even recognized experts in digital domains with thousands of followers seem to post/share an enormous amount of useless fluff.
I totally understand your experience on Twitter and a lot of the comments here reflect it.
However I do not relate to your experience of it. Over the years I've curated a nice set of people to follow and I've had extremely rewarding experiences. I've learned a lot, invested in companies, received investment, all stemming from interactions I've had on Twitter.
I definitely occasionally see some of what you're talking about and it creeps into my bubble but I'm diligent about tracking down how it got there and unfollowing whoever pushed it into my field of view.
If I can be frank your post here is an example of the kind of stuff I usually push away. Fairly absolute stance with little articulation/empathy of the opposing viewpoint. Taking some of the genuinely negative behavior and implying it must be the entirety of everyone using Twitter.
Twitter tends to reflect yourself and if you're honest with yourself you'll often see that you seek out the things that upset you.
However I do not relate to your experience of it. Over the years I've curated a nice set of people to follow and I've had extremely rewarding experiences. I've learned a lot, invested in companies, received investment, all stemming from interactions I've had on Twitter.
I definitely occasionally see some of what you're talking about and it creeps into my bubble but I'm diligent about tracking down how it got there and unfollowing whoever pushed it into my field of view.
If I can be frank your post here is an example of the kind of stuff I usually push away. Fairly absolute stance with little articulation/empathy of the opposing viewpoint. Taking some of the genuinely negative behavior and implying it must be the entirety of everyone using Twitter.
Twitter tends to reflect yourself and if you're honest with yourself you'll often see that you seek out the things that upset you.
Yeah I think what a lot of people mess up on Twitter is not curating their list either through people or block words. You can drastically change your experience of twitter by carefully choosing who and what to follow and by judiciously pruning anything that you don't want to see.
The one major gap in that is I'd love to be able to follow or add to a list just an accounts tweets but not their retweets, there are some people I follow that I love their work but they retweet to boost a lot of random chaff I don't really want, so I can't follow or add them to a list because they just dominate/pollute the feed.
Lists in particular are a good tool because you can quasi-follow someone on a private list where a) it doesn't show up in your follows if they're someone/thing you don't want showing up in your follows and b) you choose when to go see those things so you can self regulate easier if it's not something you can/should see all the time.
The one major gap in that is I'd love to be able to follow or add to a list just an accounts tweets but not their retweets, there are some people I follow that I love their work but they retweet to boost a lot of random chaff I don't really want, so I can't follow or add them to a list because they just dominate/pollute the feed.
Lists in particular are a good tool because you can quasi-follow someone on a private list where a) it doesn't show up in your follows if they're someone/thing you don't want showing up in your follows and b) you choose when to go see those things so you can self regulate easier if it's not something you can/should see all the time.
Twitter has a place. There's nothing else that gives deep reach into professional niches. I've learned a lot from epidemiology twitter (no pre-existing knowledge base from me) and from science and applied math twitter that's adjacent to my profession. That knowledge has real value!
Like HN, keeping it short has its advantages and I've also learned-by-reading how people say it short and with impact.
One has to be super careful about pruning accounts that are predictable, RT too much, or waste time attacking straw men.
Like HN, keeping it short has its advantages and I've also learned-by-reading how people say it short and with impact.
One has to be super careful about pruning accounts that are predictable, RT too much, or waste time attacking straw men.
Twitter has the highest signal/noise ratio of any social media platform, for me. I've curated it so 1) I don't follow people I know in real life so I don't have to deal with their completely different ways of using Twitter 2) I follow mostly historians, cinephiles, and art accounts 3) I pay for the Twitter Premium service so I can rearrange the UI so as to make it hard to reach the wasteful and noisy "explore" page. I get a stream of illuminating long threads about history, tidbits about films from now and the past, and tons of art from all sorts of time periods. I also block words for topics I don't care for any more such as "Marvel" or garious political figures.
My Twitter posts are just quotes that I post mostly for myself, for the future. The hardly get any likes and I don't care if they do. People-pleasing is a dirty and dangerous business.
If I could get rid of the explore page, I suspect my Instagram would be similar too. I mute most people I know in real life except for a few treasured friends who post fun, wholesome things, who aren't trying to show off or induce fomo. My actual feed is more photographers or people who share art/design stuff. So that's all good stuff.
My Twitter posts are just quotes that I post mostly for myself, for the future. The hardly get any likes and I don't care if they do. People-pleasing is a dirty and dangerous business.
If I could get rid of the explore page, I suspect my Instagram would be similar too. I mute most people I know in real life except for a few treasured friends who post fun, wholesome things, who aren't trying to show off or induce fomo. My actual feed is more photographers or people who share art/design stuff. So that's all good stuff.
You can block anything that you find time consuming using UBlock Origin.
Here's a little write up that explains how:
https://medium.com/@okrutny/how-i-gain-hours-of-productive-t...
Here's a little write up that explains how:
https://medium.com/@okrutny/how-i-gain-hours-of-productive-t...
The first time I ever understood the purpose of Twitter was when someone, a year or two ago, explained to me that Twitter's original intent was to provide a way to group-text friends, since smart phones at the time had no good way of accomplishing that. Suddenly I "got" Twitter.
In terms of what Twitter is used for by everyone these days ... I don't get it. Every time I've created an account and tried to "get into it" I ended up getting bored and never returning. Someone somewhere must find some kind of a use for it since it's still a thing. But I just can't figure out for the life of me what that use is. When people explain that they use it to follow people/pages they like or keep up with the news I keep finding myself using better tools (for me) to do those things. I guess I'm out of touch but I can't figure out for the life of me what problem exists that Twitter actually solves. Then again, I really don't use a smart phone at all either so maybe that explains the disconnect. Now get off my lawn.
In terms of what Twitter is used for by everyone these days ... I don't get it. Every time I've created an account and tried to "get into it" I ended up getting bored and never returning. Someone somewhere must find some kind of a use for it since it's still a thing. But I just can't figure out for the life of me what that use is. When people explain that they use it to follow people/pages they like or keep up with the news I keep finding myself using better tools (for me) to do those things. I guess I'm out of touch but I can't figure out for the life of me what problem exists that Twitter actually solves. Then again, I really don't use a smart phone at all either so maybe that explains the disconnect. Now get off my lawn.
Twitter is like Reddit. Very little value in posting, decent value in a harshly curated list of people to watch/listen to.
It's also like Reddit in that a huge percentage of posts are not made by genuine people with authentic motivations.
This is my take. Less than 100 followers, been a user since 2008, and have 998 tweets.
I'm a news junkie Twitter is my main source of current events/news. I mostly follow journalists from outlets I consider trustworthy, subject matter experts in areas of interest, and comedians who I find funny on podcasts.
I'm a news junkie Twitter is my main source of current events/news. I mostly follow journalists from outlets I consider trustworthy, subject matter experts in areas of interest, and comedians who I find funny on podcasts.
I've been using Twitter steadily practically since it launched. Twitter has different purposes for different people. I have 0 interest in gaining a following. I actively block and mute people. I filter out most retweets. I only follow people that are valuable sources of information for areas of industry or the world that I care about. So my feed is heavily curated.
This obviously won't work well if you're goal is to gain a following though, so the experience of those users who are growing their follower count their will have a drastically different experience from mine.
This obviously won't work well if you're goal is to gain a following though, so the experience of those users who are growing their follower count their will have a drastically different experience from mine.
I've been using Twitter for a decade. I don't follow anyone for their popularity -- I follow people whose work or insights I admire. I've used Twitter to follow more than a few people whose opinions I find controversial in order to understand their thinking.
I've actually changed some of my own opinions based on tweets. The tweets expose me to new ideas or perspectives, and lead to research, reading, and in-depth discussion with people. This is valuable to me! In my current life, getting together with people and being exposed to this kind of intellectual stimulation is not always easy. Twitter allows an asynchronous, distributed way of having this kind of discussion.
I have met a few people IRL from Twitter, including authors, activists, and "makers" I admire.
I don't know how peope build a following, but that's not really my goal. I post on a variety of subjects: technical, artistic, political, and lots of random photographs from my walks. I have very few followers (although I am amazed and impressed by some of the people who follow me).
I've actually changed some of my own opinions based on tweets. The tweets expose me to new ideas or perspectives, and lead to research, reading, and in-depth discussion with people. This is valuable to me! In my current life, getting together with people and being exposed to this kind of intellectual stimulation is not always easy. Twitter allows an asynchronous, distributed way of having this kind of discussion.
I have met a few people IRL from Twitter, including authors, activists, and "makers" I admire.
I don't know how peope build a following, but that's not really my goal. I post on a variety of subjects: technical, artistic, political, and lots of random photographs from my walks. I have very few followers (although I am amazed and impressed by some of the people who follow me).
I am baffled that Twitter is still around.
But I also know that I've been using it wrong for over 10 years. I have two accounts with zero overlap. One that's kinda tacked to my real name and where at max I followed 200 people, of which 75% I've met in person - the 'lowest interaction' would be: met at a conference and had a beer or something. The other account is for some different field of interest, but I'm also only following and interacting with ~100 people. The result is that I only barely notice all the drama and repeatedly don't get all the fuzz. It feels more like IRC than social media, because it's a net positive and I can mostly opt out of the bad stuff.
It's fascinating that you can keep your bubble so well inside this larger ecosystem, but as I said, that's why I don't get how the company is still alive if the majority of users would be me.
But I also know that I've been using it wrong for over 10 years. I have two accounts with zero overlap. One that's kinda tacked to my real name and where at max I followed 200 people, of which 75% I've met in person - the 'lowest interaction' would be: met at a conference and had a beer or something. The other account is for some different field of interest, but I'm also only following and interacting with ~100 people. The result is that I only barely notice all the drama and repeatedly don't get all the fuzz. It feels more like IRC than social media, because it's a net positive and I can mostly opt out of the bad stuff.
It's fascinating that you can keep your bubble so well inside this larger ecosystem, but as I said, that's why I don't get how the company is still alive if the majority of users would be me.
I hate it and only use it because it's where the machine learning community migrated to. The signal to noise ratio is super low but it's currently the best way to keep track of the latest developments in the field.
I'm hoping at some point ML folks get fed up with all of the rage and migrate to a dedicated forum (Yann LeCun's Google+ group used to be great, same for /r/machinelearning a few years ago).
I'm hoping at some point ML folks get fed up with all of the rage and migrate to a dedicated forum (Yann LeCun's Google+ group used to be great, same for /r/machinelearning a few years ago).
I have exactly the same experience and I am baffled how people get value from Twitter. I keep creating an account, going in, getting baffled, then leaving.
Why are so many smart and insightful people on Twitter? Because it's easier than blogging or microblogging? I see links to their interesting threads referenced on Reddit or HN and I follow those links, but I can't bring myself to care enough about Twitter (or Nitter) to actively follow anyone.
I guess if something is valuable enough on Twitter I'll hear about it elsewhere. Not sure if that approach holds up.
I'm looking forward to whatever replaces Twitter. I've been waiting for that thing for about a decade.
Why are so many smart and insightful people on Twitter? Because it's easier than blogging or microblogging? I see links to their interesting threads referenced on Reddit or HN and I follow those links, but I can't bring myself to care enough about Twitter (or Nitter) to actively follow anyone.
I guess if something is valuable enough on Twitter I'll hear about it elsewhere. Not sure if that approach holds up.
I'm looking forward to whatever replaces Twitter. I've been waiting for that thing for about a decade.
I have also deleted my account several times. Thing is, there is unique and interesting niche content on Twitter. The retrocomputing Twitter community is vibrant and entertaining. I am now trying to get comfortable with nitter.net.
To me, Twitter is a guy in a crowd saying something. There will be followers nearby who presumably like what he says (or why are they there?). Then there are others away from the followers who overhear the (potential crap) he says. They respond. Or not. It is like being in a crowded bar and walking past discussions: just snippets of text with zero context (by and large). It is "communication" for people without RL friends or who have zero interest in responses to their statements. It is the ultimate self-validation: you actually don't care about dialog, just monologue.
I've been looking for a good analogy for twitter, and this fits the bill almost perfectly. If I may add:
As you walk around hearing people talk, everyone is getting a bit drunk, so their conversations sometimes get a bit out there and more extreme out of context.
Also, the bar gives free drinks for people that get into arguments, so there's incentive to interject randomly into conversations with your own view point.
And anyone that drinks socially knows drunken arguments aren't particularly productive most of the time.
As you walk around hearing people talk, everyone is getting a bit drunk, so their conversations sometimes get a bit out there and more extreme out of context.
Also, the bar gives free drinks for people that get into arguments, so there's incentive to interject randomly into conversations with your own view point.
And anyone that drinks socially knows drunken arguments aren't particularly productive most of the time.
>It is the ultimate self-validation: you actually don't care about dialog, just monologue.
Very true. Even Twitter replies are often like a "dialog" of monologues.
Very true. Even Twitter replies are often like a "dialog" of monologues.
Twitter is useful to access various communities that create and share art, and seems to be becoming the preferred platform for some of those communities. I like this - people post art they've done, a few comment on it, these arts retweet other artists, and it works well. Positive ROI for me here.
Of course I don't post anything other than comments on art.
Of course I don't post anything other than comments on art.
I joined Twitter very early on, I believe, the same year it was released. Early on, it was boring, and I was feeding in my site's RSS feed and a few other stuff.
Now, I like/use Twitter for a few reasons;
- I can write/rant/complain or blurb out something without worrying about feedback or trying to get into a conversation.
- I watch people that I admire/like/appreciate via Lists. Twitter does the job of putting them in the timeline based on that. Other topics creep up, but I just ignore them.
- I don't try to market, grow, "engage" but instead just browse and tweet when I feel like it.
- If I don't like what someone says, I unfollow or block specific keywords. Words such as Cricket, Wordle, etc., are blocked. :-)
- I follow people whom I mutually respect and/or admire or people I knew loooong back and have nostalgic relationships from the early days.
Now, I like/use Twitter for a few reasons;
- I can write/rant/complain or blurb out something without worrying about feedback or trying to get into a conversation.
- I watch people that I admire/like/appreciate via Lists. Twitter does the job of putting them in the timeline based on that. Other topics creep up, but I just ignore them.
- I don't try to market, grow, "engage" but instead just browse and tweet when I feel like it.
- If I don't like what someone says, I unfollow or block specific keywords. Words such as Cricket, Wordle, etc., are blocked. :-)
- I follow people whom I mutually respect and/or admire or people I knew loooong back and have nostalgic relationships from the early days.
Twitter is the one platform that I never understood. Every time I get pulled in to read an individual tweet I'm blown away by how miserable the conversation is.
I have expressed this same sentiment to some friends who use Twitter. I don't know how much they use Twitter, but they seem to have the hang of it. The general consensus has been that to use Twitter effectively, you have to only follow accounts that are informative (a friend of mine follows obscure linguistic stuff) and be brutal about unfollowing people that aren't providing value. I also know that there are blocklists and ways to in general tame the rowdiness.
It seems like sound advice. I tried it, but Twitter still didn't "stick" for me. Primarily I did not find curating my own experience to be work I enjoyed doing, and it certainly did not net me a return that justified the investment of my time or mental energy. So I stick to re-directing individual tweets to nitter.net.
It seems like sound advice. I tried it, but Twitter still didn't "stick" for me. Primarily I did not find curating my own experience to be work I enjoyed doing, and it certainly did not net me a return that justified the investment of my time or mental energy. So I stick to re-directing individual tweets to nitter.net.
I've gotten sucked in once or twice and then I come to my senses and back away slowly. It's really harmful to mental health.
I call Twitter a "hate laser." Hate bounces back and forth between camps of angry people and is amplified until it shoots out and causes damage in the real world. Twitter isn't the only platform like this or even the most toxic, but I think it does the most harm by virtue of its size.
Virtually all discourse on there is toxic, but especially anything that touches politics. The political position doesn't matter. No matter what it is the content is always a barrage of lazy memes, brutal ad hominem, and the violent dismemberment of straw men.
I call Twitter a "hate laser." Hate bounces back and forth between camps of angry people and is amplified until it shoots out and causes damage in the real world. Twitter isn't the only platform like this or even the most toxic, but I think it does the most harm by virtue of its size.
Virtually all discourse on there is toxic, but especially anything that touches politics. The political position doesn't matter. No matter what it is the content is always a barrage of lazy memes, brutal ad hominem, and the violent dismemberment of straw men.
FWIW, I only ever created an account on Twitter because I thought "maybe I should have one", but never felt compelled to do anything with it in the end. I mean, I sometimes read some Twitter thread that is posted here on HN, but even then still just plain can't understand the thing's appeal. I'm quite curious what's the underlying difference between me (plus any other people who apparently don't get it too), and those who are there and enjoy using it.
>Tech twitter things just because they are good at programming, they have a valid view on topic Y.
This is a good summary of many threads on HN (particularly political).
This is a good summary of many threads on HN (particularly political).
It really is. I know the mods discourage standard political threads, but I wish they’d rule out even the more interesting ones, because even those are never really interesting or unique discussions. If someone wants political discourse, Reddit exists. It can also be had on Twitter (a) if you’re careful about who you follow (b) with far more interesting and knowledgeable participants. There’s just no value to having those battles here.
Why can't you just ignore them? I ignore 90% of most posts on HN as it is anyway.
I'm just here for the awesome discussions and posts that I happen to find interesting.
I'm just here for the awesome discussions and posts that I happen to find interesting.
> But Jesus, I stumbled across accounts which I used to follow, and these people post still every few hours or days the same take on public outcry and nothing changed. They do this for 8+ years now, you can scroll back by years and it's the same over and over again.
I think this is the echo chamber effect. Twitter culture is to block people you disagree with. Gradually, you become trapped in self-reinforcing clusters of opinions. You get the short-term reward of not having to engage with opinions you don't like, at the long-term cost of lack of exposure to new ideas. Your identity becomes sclerotic. Your tweets become your treadmill. Over and over again.
I think this is the echo chamber effect. Twitter culture is to block people you disagree with. Gradually, you become trapped in self-reinforcing clusters of opinions. You get the short-term reward of not having to engage with opinions you don't like, at the long-term cost of lack of exposure to new ideas. Your identity becomes sclerotic. Your tweets become your treadmill. Over and over again.
> Even interesting threads turn out to be half-wrong
The trick is to not follow accounts that talk about politics and to ignore people when their opinions are not based on their expertise. Also ignore accounts that are too sure about their own opinions.
The trick is to not follow accounts that talk about politics and to ignore people when their opinions are not based on their expertise. Also ignore accounts that are too sure about their own opinions.
I post my art daily on twitter; I rarely post anything just textual other than explaining why I missed a day, and I retweeted one thing from another artist who is learning from my work to help him. I refuse to use instagram/meta but so far twitter has been good to me. I look at anyone who follows me or likes a piece to see what they are doing and like anything interesting or follow. Most of my followers are artists or NFT folks plus musicians and the occasional more famous person. I pay no attention to all the BS outside of art.
> However, I realized the actual ROI of using Twitter is so negative,
I have a private account with about 100 lists which I step into at my own leisure. You don't get promoted tweets when viewing a list, and the signal to noise ratio is better than Twitter's 'You may like' / Topics BS. I don't use Twitter to chase fame and reject any follow requests I get since I enjoy my privacy.
Any little thoughts I have during the day are kept in my journal, not broadcasted publicly where I would probably regret tweeting it a year later.
I have a private account with about 100 lists which I step into at my own leisure. You don't get promoted tweets when viewing a list, and the signal to noise ratio is better than Twitter's 'You may like' / Topics BS. I don't use Twitter to chase fame and reject any follow requests I get since I enjoy my privacy.
Any little thoughts I have during the day are kept in my journal, not broadcasted publicly where I would probably regret tweeting it a year later.
I understand why most people use Twitter, but I never could identify with it. Back around ~2017 I made an account, but my preconceptions of the platform were immediately reinforced. Even if I followed people I thought I'd be interested in, Twitter just doesn't seem to be conducive to the kind of material I appreciate, as opposed to the digital finger pointing and one liners.
Shortly after I made that account, I decided to do an experiment to see how quickly I could gather followers, even though I had next to no tweets. All I did was click through random accounts and followed them. Surprisingly, many of them followed me back. It only took me a few days of clicking around to get a few hundred followers. If I had kept it up, could I have amassed thousands?
I stopped that experiment quickly because I didn't really care. It told me everything I needed to know, and I had no motivation to go back.
Its continued relevance is a bit depressing, IMO. It's hard for me to imagine that the average person actually gets more out of it than they put in, despite how clearly it can be beneficial for certain individuals and circumstances (as can be said of nearly anything). Overall, my impression of Twitter is that it is largely composed of negativity and snark, and the way it works seems to create more collectivism and mass social illness. If Twitter went belly-up, maybe I'd be kind of happy about it?
Shortly after I made that account, I decided to do an experiment to see how quickly I could gather followers, even though I had next to no tweets. All I did was click through random accounts and followed them. Surprisingly, many of them followed me back. It only took me a few days of clicking around to get a few hundred followers. If I had kept it up, could I have amassed thousands?
I stopped that experiment quickly because I didn't really care. It told me everything I needed to know, and I had no motivation to go back.
Its continued relevance is a bit depressing, IMO. It's hard for me to imagine that the average person actually gets more out of it than they put in, despite how clearly it can be beneficial for certain individuals and circumstances (as can be said of nearly anything). Overall, my impression of Twitter is that it is largely composed of negativity and snark, and the way it works seems to create more collectivism and mass social illness. If Twitter went belly-up, maybe I'd be kind of happy about it?
I hate twitter because it's 90% self promotion, virtual signaling, humblebrags. I guess I'm old and this is some new evolution of humans. Back before twitter most of these narcissists and sycophants didn't have a platform and so except for a few TV celebrities they rarely entered my life. Now, the moment I enter twitter it's like the entire world as become some purely self promotional, self congratulating... It's like exactly all the type of people I was raise to distrust and avoid.
Maybe they were all there to start just hidden from view but the world was better with them hidden from view IMO. It's not the same as writing an article/blog which requires the reader to spend several minutes to engage with. Instead it's more like being at a party or conference but instead of just talking to the 2-4 people near you everyone is shouting out "look at me!", "look what I made!", "believe my way!".
We talk about how the algorithms surface "bad" things but I'd say even without the algorithms the platforms (Twitter, Instagram, etc...) at a fundamental level, promote bad behavior (showing off, bragging, etc...). There's a reason cultures for 1000s of years looked down on this kind of behavior. These platforms by bad luck of their design, promote it.
Maybe they were all there to start just hidden from view but the world was better with them hidden from view IMO. It's not the same as writing an article/blog which requires the reader to spend several minutes to engage with. Instead it's more like being at a party or conference but instead of just talking to the 2-4 people near you everyone is shouting out "look at me!", "look what I made!", "believe my way!".
We talk about how the algorithms surface "bad" things but I'd say even without the algorithms the platforms (Twitter, Instagram, etc...) at a fundamental level, promote bad behavior (showing off, bragging, etc...). There's a reason cultures for 1000s of years looked down on this kind of behavior. These platforms by bad luck of their design, promote it.
Look on the bright side: if you think self-promotion is unique to social media I'd argue that you're definitely not old. It didn't introduce this behavior, it just displaced some of the old channels and supplemented some others.
I've come to think about internet usage as "high-stimulus" or "low-stimulus".
Low stim internet usage would be things like looking up the actor from that one movie, and then getting the name. When you get the name, you get a low level of stimulus. You just go "oh yeah, right".
High stim internet is an unregulated and extremely addictive drug. So much of the internet is meticulously designed to elicit the biggest possible emotional reaction from its users, who may then get caught in the undertow of looking for the next big emotional rush.
Content is irrelevant; the same content could be styled as "FIFTEEN AMAZING FOOD HACKS, NUMBER EIGHT WILL BEAT UP YOUR FATHER!" or it could be styled as "hey did you know you can crunch up breakfast cereal and use it as breading"
Twitter, reddit, instagram; these and many other sites are just ranches for people who are caught up in the undertow to spend half their day on, bleeding out personal information to whomever wants to buy it.
So I guess I'm not baffled by how negative it is, how little you gain from it once you're on it long term, or why peopl euse it long term despite that. It's a drug. They're addicted. No one's stopping the pushers. It's not going to stop on its own.
Low stim internet usage would be things like looking up the actor from that one movie, and then getting the name. When you get the name, you get a low level of stimulus. You just go "oh yeah, right".
High stim internet is an unregulated and extremely addictive drug. So much of the internet is meticulously designed to elicit the biggest possible emotional reaction from its users, who may then get caught in the undertow of looking for the next big emotional rush.
Content is irrelevant; the same content could be styled as "FIFTEEN AMAZING FOOD HACKS, NUMBER EIGHT WILL BEAT UP YOUR FATHER!" or it could be styled as "hey did you know you can crunch up breakfast cereal and use it as breading"
Twitter, reddit, instagram; these and many other sites are just ranches for people who are caught up in the undertow to spend half their day on, bleeding out personal information to whomever wants to buy it.
So I guess I'm not baffled by how negative it is, how little you gain from it once you're on it long term, or why peopl euse it long term despite that. It's a drug. They're addicted. No one's stopping the pushers. It's not going to stop on its own.
I follow almost exclusively biologists. It's pretty much the place to be to learn about new papers, especially outside of my field. I often learn about papers there before my google scholar or biorxiv alerts reach me. and the general discourse is interesting too (has anyone used X to solve problem Y, here's this new institution, lots of job openings, etc).
i find twitter to be overwhelmingly positive and interesting - you're just using it wrong.
i find twitter to be overwhelmingly positive and interesting - you're just using it wrong.
I really loved clunky twitter when it launched. It felt like a kind of collective consciousness... like you could suddenly be mentally connected at a superficial level with users geographically near-by. When it started being more about influence,famous people and ads that initial excitement wore off but I stuck with it for a while. Then they started blocking third party API access and clients... and that kind of ruined it entirely for me.
Twitter has a mostly negative ROI for me; I wind up having mild panic attacks both when I visit it, and when I'm reminded of it in the rest of my day.
Almost any reminder that people are having conversations there (especially politics / social commentary)... or forming thought about the world there, makes me fear humanity.
Basically I just keep it around since some (like here on HN) think that it's valuable to prove you exist using an established account.
Almost any reminder that people are having conversations there (especially politics / social commentary)... or forming thought about the world there, makes me fear humanity.
Basically I just keep it around since some (like here on HN) think that it's valuable to prove you exist using an established account.
I tried to build a following, went until around 2k followers...
Why?
There are three sorts of people who have a significant Twitter following.
There are people who are famous in "real life" who people follow because they want insight into the minds of celebrities, and a little bit of access because they might get a reply. You can only join this group by doing something noteworthy offline. Your following will grow quickly as your offline life becomes more notable.
Then there are people who are subject matter experts who tweet genuinely interesting things whose followers are authentically interested in what that person says. You can join this group by being an expert in something and tweeting about it. If it's interesting the following will grow slowly.
And lastly there are people who just want a Twitter following because they think it would reflect how important they feel they are. They just haven't been noticed yet. I'm in this group. I enjoy tweeting. I often think I should be noticed more on there because I'm funny. I don't have any regrets. My followers do though.
Why?
There are three sorts of people who have a significant Twitter following.
There are people who are famous in "real life" who people follow because they want insight into the minds of celebrities, and a little bit of access because they might get a reply. You can only join this group by doing something noteworthy offline. Your following will grow quickly as your offline life becomes more notable.
Then there are people who are subject matter experts who tweet genuinely interesting things whose followers are authentically interested in what that person says. You can join this group by being an expert in something and tweeting about it. If it's interesting the following will grow slowly.
And lastly there are people who just want a Twitter following because they think it would reflect how important they feel they are. They just haven't been noticed yet. I'm in this group. I enjoy tweeting. I often think I should be noticed more on there because I'm funny. I don't have any regrets. My followers do though.
This question has baffled me also. What on earth motivates some people to diligently post basically the same diatribe every day forever? Some of these guys work harder and more consistently at this than I will ever work on anything I do. And they do it for years.
The question that was asked was not meant to denigrate the many people that have found useful ways to connect and work with others.
The question that was asked was not meant to denigrate the many people that have found useful ways to connect and work with others.
Perhaps you're placing too much importance on Twitter.
I don't care about follower counts on Twitter, and in fact, "delete" all my tweets every month or so. I don't really place much importance on my tweets, either.
I make heavy use of topic-based lists and when I really want to soak stuff in, I use TweetDeck.
Properly curated, it's a great source for news and nuggets of info, joy, and laughs.
I don't care about follower counts on Twitter, and in fact, "delete" all my tweets every month or so. I don't really place much importance on my tweets, either.
I make heavy use of topic-based lists and when I really want to soak stuff in, I use TweetDeck.
Properly curated, it's a great source for news and nuggets of info, joy, and laughs.
We all have opinions some are valid some are not. In real life we express them at will and in Twitter we are able to do the same. The big difference is the number of people we can speak to at one time. We need to take most people's tweets with a bit of caution since most people just tweet what comes to mind at the time.
Twitter has a place in society but we need to understand that it's mostly people's passing thoughts which can be very wrong.
Keep in mind that we need to be very careful where we get our information from since once an idea get in our thoughts, our mind gets primed with that idea and once you hear it again it becomes more credible. I suspect that's how people end up believing some out of the norm ideas.
I stopped using it since to me it's not worth trying to understand what's true vs what's not at scale. I just don't have the time to figure it out.
Sure, there are well researched opinions but they get polluted after the replies start. Again, people's opinions but who has time to figure them out.
Twitter has a place in society but we need to understand that it's mostly people's passing thoughts which can be very wrong.
Keep in mind that we need to be very careful where we get our information from since once an idea get in our thoughts, our mind gets primed with that idea and once you hear it again it becomes more credible. I suspect that's how people end up believing some out of the norm ideas.
I stopped using it since to me it's not worth trying to understand what's true vs what's not at scale. I just don't have the time to figure it out.
Sure, there are well researched opinions but they get polluted after the replies start. Again, people's opinions but who has time to figure them out.
Much like every other kind of media, it's largely in your best interests to actively avoid the stuff targeted at creating a brand or a following or a mass audience. This is not snobbery, I definitely have plenty of "low" culture interests (we all do).
But this kind of problem is also not unique or even particularly aggravated on Twitter or social media in general. Funnily enough I think it was the post-modernists like Baudrillard who first forcefully articulated this problem, but most of the time people talk about post-modernists as if they enjoy the fact that culture and politics have become dominated by symbols and simulacra. I've barely read anything on the topic, but that's my understanding.
I should add the important caveat that mass non-symbolic politics is possible, so I'm not advocating some kind of blunt "anti mob and everything 'popular' is the mob" position. But wherever you find that, it probably won't be on Twitter.
But this kind of problem is also not unique or even particularly aggravated on Twitter or social media in general. Funnily enough I think it was the post-modernists like Baudrillard who first forcefully articulated this problem, but most of the time people talk about post-modernists as if they enjoy the fact that culture and politics have become dominated by symbols and simulacra. I've barely read anything on the topic, but that's my understanding.
I should add the important caveat that mass non-symbolic politics is possible, so I'm not advocating some kind of blunt "anti mob and everything 'popular' is the mob" position. But wherever you find that, it probably won't be on Twitter.
I deleted my account because I ended up wasting too much time using it. I do think its a great resource for direct communication for people who have messages public service providers(utilities), Politicians(local and presidential), academics, companies etc. Especially in this post-newspaper world.
Twitter, although microblogging platform, seems to have quality content depending on what you choose to post/view.
If you follow serious, like-minded people - who don't push out garbage at random, there is a lot of things you'd get to learn. If you'd contribute meaningfully, you'd make some good industry connections as well.
ML community is very active on Twitter. Part of the reason why ML is going hot still is because the information dissemination rate is pretty high. If ML was active on Reddit or Facebook primarily, I can't imagine newest developments would reach out to others as fast. People use bookmarks & like to make curated reading lists, or look out for seminar/talk announcements. Overall its a win-win to people who are invested in it.
If you follow serious, like-minded people - who don't push out garbage at random, there is a lot of things you'd get to learn. If you'd contribute meaningfully, you'd make some good industry connections as well.
ML community is very active on Twitter. Part of the reason why ML is going hot still is because the information dissemination rate is pretty high. If ML was active on Reddit or Facebook primarily, I can't imagine newest developments would reach out to others as fast. People use bookmarks & like to make curated reading lists, or look out for seminar/talk announcements. Overall its a win-win to people who are invested in it.
The only plus side for having a reasonable number of followers on Twitter is that when you complain about a major corporation sometimes you get preferential treatment. Otherwise it seems like a lot of work.
Twitter is for following my favorite sci-fi authors. Daily outrage can take a hike.
Twitter is for following my favorite sci-fi authors. Daily outrage can take a hike.
Looks like you're trying to use Twitter for "serious" purposes — getting researched information, professional networking and so on. That's one way to use it, but not the only one.
Personally, I use twitter to rant about politics, occasionally post something programming-related, but mostly for shits and giggles. Although I follow quite a few Twitter influencers like Naval, most of my feed are just local people that I like, that have nothing in common with my career, who post pretty mundane stuff about their lives, sometimes — nudes. I've met a lot of these people in real life, sometimes just for drinks, and more than a couple of times it developed into ONS and serious romantic relationships.
Personally, I use twitter to rant about politics, occasionally post something programming-related, but mostly for shits and giggles. Although I follow quite a few Twitter influencers like Naval, most of my feed are just local people that I like, that have nothing in common with my career, who post pretty mundane stuff about their lives, sometimes — nudes. I've met a lot of these people in real life, sometimes just for drinks, and more than a couple of times it developed into ONS and serious romantic relationships.
I don’t post. But I find Twitter invaluable for learning about everything that interests me. Business, marketing, development, AR, and the list goes on. Coupled with ThreadReader, I’m able to save great tweets compiled to PDF for further studying.
It's the only place my friends stuck around after they all left Livejournal. I fucking hate it but it's where I gotta go to talk to them now. I guess there's also Facebook but (a) I know everyone via their pseudonyms and (b) it's Facebook and fuck Facebook.
A while back I made it a lot better by running a script that turned off retweets for everyone I followed at the time. New people I follow are on Retweet Probation and it's always kind of amusing when I decide to turn off someone's retweets because they're mostly sharing stuff designed to create outrage and I see next to nothing from them any more.
I miss Livejournal.
A while back I made it a lot better by running a script that turned off retweets for everyone I followed at the time. New people I follow are on Retweet Probation and it's always kind of amusing when I decide to turn off someone's retweets because they're mostly sharing stuff designed to create outrage and I see next to nothing from them any more.
I miss Livejournal.
> these people post still every few hours or days the same take on public outcry and nothing changed. They do this for 8+ years now, you can scroll back by years and it's the same over and over again.
> Imagine looking back on your life when you are 60 and seeing that you tweeted stuff with no effect WHAT SO EVER and you did this for 30 years of your life. Isn't this so depressing?
"You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it." - Morpheus
> Imagine looking back on your life when you are 60 and seeing that you tweeted stuff with no effect WHAT SO EVER and you did this for 30 years of your life. Isn't this so depressing?
"You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it." - Morpheus
I have always been surprised by how little Twitter interests me. I'm often linked to interesting things there. There are all kinds of interesting little communities (for instance, lots of scientists spend a lot of time there). Yet, I rarely stay long (even before the current prompts to sign in). I was certainly a great checker of Facebook for a long time, so I'm not immune to the charms of endless scrolling, yet somehow Twitter never draws me in more.
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Twitter only really clicked for me when I disconnected it from my IRL identity and started using it in a way that more accurately reflects my actual self. I tried to obtain followers explicitly, but I've built up a small number of mutual followers over the years who have things in common with me and presumably like my tweets.
To give you an example of those tweets, I frequently post stuff to the effect of "taking a dump".
To give you an example of those tweets, I frequently post stuff to the effect of "taking a dump".
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The reason people keep using Twitter it's because it's designed / evolved to be very addictive. Most of us don't engage our rational mechanisms to go "I am about to spend X minutes engaged on Twitter, what's the cost/benefit?" We just do it, and later feel bad about it.
If you've been on Twitter since the early days, you have noticed how it has become more and more about dunking and hate-quoting. Once you have an algorithm that decides what content causes the most engagement, you learn that negative emotions make people act. It's hard to scroll Twitter and not want to yell at something you disagree with. The medium itself does not lead to constructive conversation. This comment would require a Twitter thread, which is a scary thing to write. Every single tweet in a thread can be taken out of context, and you have to write accordingly.
As a company, Twitter has stopped innovating a while ago. The product has been stagnant, and so has the market cap. I expect that eventually it will collapse when the most interesting people to follow simply stop engaging, but that might take years.
My solution is to engage as little as I am capable of. I deleted the app from my phone, and I have a personal rule of only posting inoffensive shower thoughts that almost never get any reactions. I never get involved in an argument there.
If you've been on Twitter since the early days, you have noticed how it has become more and more about dunking and hate-quoting. Once you have an algorithm that decides what content causes the most engagement, you learn that negative emotions make people act. It's hard to scroll Twitter and not want to yell at something you disagree with. The medium itself does not lead to constructive conversation. This comment would require a Twitter thread, which is a scary thing to write. Every single tweet in a thread can be taken out of context, and you have to write accordingly.
As a company, Twitter has stopped innovating a while ago. The product has been stagnant, and so has the market cap. I expect that eventually it will collapse when the most interesting people to follow simply stop engaging, but that might take years.
My solution is to engage as little as I am capable of. I deleted the app from my phone, and I have a personal rule of only posting inoffensive shower thoughts that almost never get any reactions. I never get involved in an argument there.
It’s a platform for self-promoters and journalists, looking for the current “pulse.” I never had the need, personally. Tend to avoid their site, that requires megabytes of js for business reasons as well.
But I also recognize that sales and marketing folks exist for a reason and don’t fret too much. If and when I start a business, I’ll look into it.
But I also recognize that sales and marketing folks exist for a reason and don’t fret too much. If and when I start a business, I’ll look into it.
My secret to enjoying Twitter is:
- I’m fast to follow, fast to unfollow. I try a lot of folks out, but am quick to drop them if the value is not there.
- I try to only follow people not orgs. So, I tend to follow individual reporters instead of the main newspaper account (for example).
- I don’t tweet. In fact my account is private with no followers so I couldn’t even if I wanted to.
- I’m fast to follow, fast to unfollow. I try a lot of folks out, but am quick to drop them if the value is not there.
- I try to only follow people not orgs. So, I tend to follow individual reporters instead of the main newspaper account (for example).
- I don’t tweet. In fact my account is private with no followers so I couldn’t even if I wanted to.
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I must have a particular social circle because I only know one or two people who use Twitter at all. In these cases they seem to largely be using it as a platform for self-promotion. This is the sense I get from Twitter in general, so I just can’t get into it. It’s like a text version of Clubhouse.
The sprawling conversation graph inevitably leads from something constructive and light to something that fosters outrage. One of the things I like about TikTok is how much friction there is against getting too deep in the outrage zone, since discussion threads are bound to a video post.
I went cold turkey on it when I bought a new phone. “Just don’t install it for one week, see how it goes”.
That was months ago. There was fomo at the beginning, but now I have one attention sinkhole less in my mind, less drama and outrage in my life.
If I ever get back to it, it’ll be in write-only mode
If I ever get back to it, it’ll be in write-only mode
I don't go on twitter to 'build a following' or to get anything approaching a 'ROI'. I go on twitter to joke around with friends who only post there and, if I'm being honest, also to look at cool pictures of birds and dogs and other critters.
I am strictly a Twitter reader and my account is private but damn is my Twitter feed great: hilarious tweets, schizo takes, interesting links, lifting tips, latest news, crypto shilling... it feels like a real culture, like some ancient bazaar or city square. So good.
> Even interesting threads turn out to be half-wrong. I see takes from 10k+ follower accounts who are not well researched, one sided and all. Tech twitter things just because they are good at programming, they have a valid view on topic Y.
Funny, I’ve thought the same about HN.
Funny, I’ve thought the same about HN.
I've run an account for an old job I had (promoting a bar), but beyond that I haven't really interacted with twitter, ever. Everything I hear of it is negative. (Note: I only know what happens on twitter from people on podcasts talking about what happens on twitter. So it's possibly not an accurate reflection of the platform.)
I've seen people that I respect appear to lose their sanity from things being said on it. An example is Sam Harris, who is of course a brilliant author and neuroscientist.
He's gone from a person I respected a lot for his thoughts on atheism and spirituality to being a person who I've heard dedicate hours of podcasts to basically complaining about what people say on twitter. As an adult, it's almost shocking to hear someone intelligent revert to anguishing about the same things misguided teenagers might concern themselves with.
He's not the only one. It appears famous people who use twitter end up using it as a scope into what they might perceive the real world to be like. However, what seems to be the discourse on twitter has no relation to the discourse in my neighborhood (in Western North Carolina) or my previous neighborhood (East Village, NYC).
So no, OP, you're not the only one baffled. I'm extremely baffled.
I've seen people that I respect appear to lose their sanity from things being said on it. An example is Sam Harris, who is of course a brilliant author and neuroscientist.
He's gone from a person I respected a lot for his thoughts on atheism and spirituality to being a person who I've heard dedicate hours of podcasts to basically complaining about what people say on twitter. As an adult, it's almost shocking to hear someone intelligent revert to anguishing about the same things misguided teenagers might concern themselves with.
He's not the only one. It appears famous people who use twitter end up using it as a scope into what they might perceive the real world to be like. However, what seems to be the discourse on twitter has no relation to the discourse in my neighborhood (in Western North Carolina) or my previous neighborhood (East Village, NYC).
So no, OP, you're not the only one baffled. I'm extremely baffled.
I find Twitter really good at providing me links to other things. I spend little time reading Twitter, but a fair amount of time following links I discover through Twitter. And as someone else mentioned; Twitter is only as good as the accounts you follow.
I use Twitter to speak with people I actually know, and a few friends of friends. I don't see any value to being out there trying to get thousands of followers, or following people I don't know just for their "takes".
Rather than tweeting about tech, I tweet about my experience with OCD. It's been a fantastic experience and there's a lot of positivity in the OCD/mental health community.
I fancy myself a fairly tech savvy guy, but I find the UI a little confusing. If you want to read a tweet you click on random white-space between other elements. It’s weird.
Best thing I did this year was uninstalling Twitter from the phone. Usage dropped by 99% and feel much better without it.
I used to be one of those people and I quit.
People who find Twitter rewarding and useful aren't going to do things like "measure for ROI."
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I like Twitter. It's a fun place for jokes and there are some good communities on there.
I dislike Twitter but I am glad it exists. More spaces need to exist on the Internet.
It's just a harmful procrastinatory addiction, like me posting on Hacker News.
I wonder what makes HN's opinion more positive of Twitter than of Facebook
I like infosec twitter and funny twitter. The rest is meh.
It largely depends on who you follow.
Twitter is one of my favorite things in life.
I deleted my account, but then created a new one because some tweets and threads were more easily viewable with an account. This lead to build a more serious Twitter profile again.
However, I realised the actual ROI of using Twitter is so negative, it's shocking. Even interesting threads turn out to be half-wrong. I see takes from 10k+ follower accounts who are not well researched, one sided and all. Tech twitter things just because they are good at programming, they have a valid view on topic Y.
Now this is all common knowledge I believe. But Jesus, I stumbled across accounts which I used to follow, and these people post still every few hours or days the same take on public outcry and nothing changed. They do this for 8+ years now, you can scroll back by years and it's the same over and over again.
I wonder if someone has a take which changes my mind or what makes them do this stupid things? Imagine looking back on your life when you are 60 and seeing that you tweeted stuff with no effect WHAT SO EVER and you did this for 30 years of your life. Isn't this so depressing?