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This. This. This. Instagram is killing twitter when it comes to short-form public social profiles. Depending on the hash tags, you will get likes instantly for

by alttab 11y ago

This. This. This. Instagram is killing twitter when it comes to short-form public social profiles. Depending on the hash tags, you will get likes instantly for your photos. The narcissism and instant gratification can be very addicting. With twitter, you either need a re-tweet, or a "favorite," which clearly doesn't work well because no one wants to "bookmark" tweets. To me this looks like an attempt to grab some of the "slacktivism" clicking that Instagram and Facebook provide by copying the metaphor with the lower barrier to entry. To the newest kids on the block (in the literal sense), Twitter could position itself as "Instagram for Text." If that makes any sense, and it catches traction, you could see instagram responding by allowing posts without pictures, etc. The closer these networks get to each other with form and function, the fiercer the fight could be. Which in Twitter's case is a good thing because they've been losing.

prawn 11y ago
At one point, they added the ability to see "Tweet Activity" but that could well have worked against them. Prior to tweet activity being visible, I assumed the majority of my followers saw each tweet. But even a tweet with miletone news and a few favourites shows that the tweet was seen by about a sixth of my followers - that's dismal. All that does for me is increase the feeling that tweeting is near-worthless. They need to make the time and social cost of interacting with a tweet as low as possible. Even something that's "less" than a heart. Always thought Instagram could do this by allowing liking where the identity of your like wasn't visible to anyone.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- alexforster 11y ago
  Interesting Twitter cheat related to this- if you go to ads.twitter.com and sign up with a credit card, you'll get a lot of new metrics exposed to you without ever actully having to spend any money. I have an abysmal "engagement" rate, but I know at least 50 people see every tweet I make. http://imgur.com/0vlXbmW.png http://imgur.com/0vlXbmW.png
  - whatever_dude 11y ago
    Not sure this is what's needed. I see all of that (and more) on analytics.twitter.com when I click to view a tweet's activity, and I never signed up with a CC anywhere.
  - prawn 11y ago
    That exact screen is available to anyone. Unfortunately, I think they've tailored it for larger users and it does little to sway newcomers or even regulars with modest audiences.
conradk 11y ago
"no one wants to 'bookmark' tweets" What evidence supports this claim ? I disagree on a personal level. I used "favorites" almost exclusively to bookmark tweets and I have "unliked" all of my previous favorites because the meaning has drastically changed.
- diminish 11y ago
  > "no one wants to 'bookmark' tweets" that rings alarm bells of contradiction in my mind; i always use the favorite to bookmark tweets - and i notice a lot of my followers do the same. of course i want to bookmark them for reading later.
  - prawn 11y ago
    And that action generally notifies the author who is then not sure whether you're showing appreciation or just checking link-bait. I used to star to read later. I now open the link into a browser and get to it later on. And I use the star a lot less than I would hit the heart on Instagram - and Twitter know that's a serious problem for them.
    - diminish 11y ago
      I agree. Indeed there are 2 separate needs; bookmarking as a read later for tweets containing links (for more advanced users ) and liking for applauding for the crowd.. "for the crowd" will always win for "quarterly" reasons.. Now
- oaktowner 11y ago
  Yes, that sounds like hyperbole. People do want to bookmark tweets. But Twitter reasoned (probably correctly) that people "like" a lot more tweets than they bookmark. Naturally, Twitter likes the idea of visible engagement, so they are encouraging people to do the lighterweight thing. What's interesting is that I had already found my own behavior changing. For years I used 'favoriting' as bookmarking...but in the last year or so, I've changed and was already using it as a show of appreciation. I wonder if many other people were doing the same thing already.
mgalka 11y ago
There is actually very little difference in the functionality btw Twitter and Instagram. The real difference is in the "personalities" they have taken on by virtue of the people who use them. People on instagram are looking for instant gratification (nothing wrong with that), so it will always win that battle. People on twitter are looking for news, controversy, protests, etc. That's an important function for some people. But it does not have the same mass appeal, so can only scale to a certain degree. I don't see how they can solve that problem by adjusting the functionality.
- alttab 11y ago
  Agreed. At a high level, its about users, engagement, and KPIs for the businesses. For instagram that's posts, follows, likes, and comments. With Twitter, its tweets, follows, "favorites", and... @shouting, which is still a "tweet." The problem with twitter is if I search for, say #occupywallstreet, I'm probably much less likely to bookmark it than I would "like" an instagram photo. The difference ultimately lies in the fact that its about attracting investment - and twitter/(instagram/facebook) all share the same piece of that pie. So when you're posting KPIs for your business - they better look better than someone else's even though they are different "people/personalities." The truth is all social networks are competing for the same influx of new users - those coming of age and interacting with social networks for the first time. Twitter isn't winning the minds of existing users with their hearts - they'll be looking at engagement and retention metrics for users that have joined 6 months from now, and never even knew you could once "favorite" a tweet.
- mbrock 11y ago
  I don't think instant gratification is all there's to it and I don't know why every discussion of Instagram needs to describe its users as narcissists. I regularly use Instagram as a photo archive to look back on travels, places I've lived, things that happened last month, etc. And the general effect from my timeline is that I keep being reminded of the health and happiness of my friends, which has nothing to do with narcissism or instant gratification, really.
  - mgalka 11y ago

by alttab 11y ago

prawn 11y ago

At one point, they added the ability to see "Tweet Activity" but that could well have worked against them. Prior to tweet activity being visible, I assumed the majority of my followers saw each tweet. But even a tweet with miletone news and a few favourites shows that the tweet was seen by about a sixth of my followers - that's dismal. All that does for me is increase the feeling that tweeting is near-worthless. They need to make the time and social cost of interacting with a tweet as low as possible. Even something that's "less" than a heart. Always thought Instagram could do this by allowing liking where the identity of your like wasn't visible to anyone.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
alexforster 11y ago
Interesting Twitter cheat related to this- if you go to ads.twitter.com and sign up with a credit card, you'll get a lot of new metrics exposed to you without ever actully having to spend any money. I have an abysmal "engagement" rate, but I know at least 50 people see every tweet I make. http://imgur.com/0vlXbmW.png http://imgur.com/0vlXbmW.png
- whatever_dude 11y ago
  Not sure this is what's needed. I see all of that (and more) on analytics.twitter.com when I click to view a tweet's activity, and I never signed up with a CC anywhere.
- prawn 11y ago
  That exact screen is available to anyone. Unfortunately, I think they've tailored it for larger users and it does little to sway newcomers or even regulars with modest audiences.

conradk 11y ago

"no one wants to 'bookmark' tweets" What evidence supports this claim ? I disagree on a personal level. I used "favorites" almost exclusively to bookmark tweets and I have "unliked" all of my previous favorites because the meaning has drastically changed.

diminish 11y ago
> "no one wants to 'bookmark' tweets" that rings alarm bells of contradiction in my mind; i always use the favorite to bookmark tweets - and i notice a lot of my followers do the same. of course i want to bookmark them for reading later.
- prawn 11y ago
  And that action generally notifies the author who is then not sure whether you're showing appreciation or just checking link-bait. I used to star to read later. I now open the link into a browser and get to it later on. And I use the star a lot less than I would hit the heart on Instagram - and Twitter know that's a serious problem for them.
  - diminish 11y ago
    I agree. Indeed there are 2 separate needs; bookmarking as a read later for tweets containing links (for more advanced users ) and liking for applauding for the crowd.. "for the crowd" will always win for "quarterly" reasons.. Now
oaktowner 11y ago
Yes, that sounds like hyperbole. People do want to bookmark tweets. But Twitter reasoned (probably correctly) that people "like" a lot more tweets than they bookmark. Naturally, Twitter likes the idea of visible engagement, so they are encouraging people to do the lighterweight thing. What's interesting is that I had already found my own behavior changing. For years I used 'favoriting' as bookmarking...but in the last year or so, I've changed and was already using it as a show of appreciation. I wonder if many other people were doing the same thing already.

mgalka 11y ago

There is actually very little difference in the functionality btw Twitter and Instagram. The real difference is in the "personalities" they have taken on by virtue of the people who use them. People on instagram are looking for instant gratification (nothing wrong with that), so it will always win that battle. People on twitter are looking for news, controversy, protests, etc. That's an important function for some people. But it does not have the same mass appeal, so can only scale to a certain degree. I don't see how they can solve that problem by adjusting the functionality.

alttab 11y ago
Agreed. At a high level, its about users, engagement, and KPIs for the businesses. For instagram that's posts, follows, likes, and comments. With Twitter, its tweets, follows, "favorites", and... @shouting, which is still a "tweet." The problem with twitter is if I search for, say #occupywallstreet, I'm probably much less likely to bookmark it than I would "like" an instagram photo. The difference ultimately lies in the fact that its about attracting investment - and twitter/(instagram/facebook) all share the same piece of that pie. So when you're posting KPIs for your business - they better look better than someone else's even though they are different "people/personalities." The truth is all social networks are competing for the same influx of new users - those coming of age and interacting with social networks for the first time. Twitter isn't winning the minds of existing users with their hearts - they'll be looking at engagement and retention metrics for users that have joined 6 months from now, and never even knew you could once "favorite" a tweet.
mbrock 11y ago
I don't think instant gratification is all there's to it and I don't know why every discussion of Instagram needs to describe its users as narcissists. I regularly use Instagram as a photo archive to look back on travels, places I've lived, things that happened last month, etc. And the general effect from my timeline is that I keep being reminded of the health and happiness of my friends, which has nothing to do with narcissism or instant gratification, really.
- mgalka 11y ago