4 ms·

Twitter is somewhat of a quantum state for me. It's a complete cesspool on the whole, but the academic community is absolutely outstanding. I follow @Neuro_Sk

Twitter is somewhat of a quantum state for me. It's a complete cesspool on the whole, but the academic community is absolutely outstanding. I follow @Neuro_Skeptic, @StanDehaene, @practiCalfMRI, @sensorimotorlab, @davidpoeppel, among many others, and they certainly seem to squeeze a lot of insight into 160 characters. In any case, everything I've been hearing relates to twitter not growing. I understand the pressure on investors, but as far as I'm concerned, it doesn't need to grow. The niche is saturated, and there's no problem, per se.

samsolomon 11y ago
I love Twitter, but the burden is on the user to make the experience—it's entirely dictated by who you follow.
- drumdance 11y ago
  That's a really good point. A friend of mine who wants to be a forensic pathologist follows a coroner who posts autopsy photos and asks people to guess the cause of death. She has something like 500k followers. It's amazing all the micro-celebrity that's possible, but as a user you have to know where to find it.
  - draugadrotten 11y ago
    > a coroner who posts autopsy photos How is that even legal? shudder
    - talmand 11y ago
      Likely legal as long as it isn't possible to identify the body from the photo.
    - pjc50 11y ago
      Some jurisdictions may consider them to be "public records".
  - ufo 11y ago
    I'm curious... Do you have know the link for that?
- tacos 11y ago
  This gets posted every Twitter article. The burden is ALWAYS on the human to make the experience. Online, offline, with a lover, on vacation, while under duress, while rich, while broke. It's a meaningless platitude. Because people will migrate toward a more pleasant experience. They will choose things that require less effort. Even in regards to Twitter, the "who you follow" myth is particularly ridiculous. Know how one negative comment in a stream of 100 positives can ruin your day? One friend on a bender can ruin your whole Twitter night. One sporting event can drown out your favorite intellectual writers. "Scope what I read by username, sort by time" is a fun but flawed concept.
benten10 11y ago
I am being flippant here (see my other comment on this post), but giving out the people you follow on twitter would be an easy way to compromise your anonymity (assuming that those accounts don't have a large overlap of followers). Just wanted to raise awareness, and point out there are very likely companies that make money by identifying people by the accounts they follow. : )

samsolomon 11y ago

I love Twitter, but the burden is on the user to make the experience—it's entirely dictated by who you follow.

drumdance 11y ago
That's a really good point. A friend of mine who wants to be a forensic pathologist follows a coroner who posts autopsy photos and asks people to guess the cause of death. She has something like 500k followers. It's amazing all the micro-celebrity that's possible, but as a user you have to know where to find it.
- draugadrotten 11y ago
  > a coroner who posts autopsy photos How is that even legal? shudder
  - talmand 11y ago
    Likely legal as long as it isn't possible to identify the body from the photo.
  - pjc50 11y ago
    Some jurisdictions may consider them to be "public records".
- ufo 11y ago
  I'm curious... Do you have know the link for that?
tacos 11y ago
This gets posted every Twitter article. The burden is ALWAYS on the human to make the experience. Online, offline, with a lover, on vacation, while under duress, while rich, while broke. It's a meaningless platitude. Because people will migrate toward a more pleasant experience. They will choose things that require less effort. Even in regards to Twitter, the "who you follow" myth is particularly ridiculous. Know how one negative comment in a stream of 100 positives can ruin your day? One friend on a bender can ruin your whole Twitter night. One sporting event can drown out your favorite intellectual writers. "Scope what I read by username, sort by time" is a fun but flawed concept.

benten10 11y ago

I am being flippant here (see my other comment on this post), but giving out the people you follow on twitter would be an easy way to compromise your anonymity (assuming that those accounts don't have a large overlap of followers). Just wanted to raise awareness, and point out there are very likely companies that make money by identifying people by the accounts they follow. : )