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"But there's Twitter. All these years, it has stayed remarkably close to the original concept of microblogging." right, they only added photos, video, FB style

"But there's Twitter. All these years, it has stayed remarkably close to the original concept of microblogging." right, they only added photos, video, FB style profile pages, link shortening, location metadata, algorithmic timeline, moments, messaging, and extensively developed mobile apps but otherwise yes exactly the same as when they were an 140 char SMS broadcast service.

niftich 10y ago
I knew this was going to be challenged, and you're not wrong. But Twitter still feels closest to the original incarnation of 'here be a (roughly) reverse-chronological list of text-message length posts'. They had the timeline, the "friend feed" first, and most enhancements affected only the payload of their messages. Moments was a big innovation, and it's presented as a separate offering on their website. Whereas Facebook's primary function went from a carefully-curated yearbook-style personal and interest page to an... algorithmic timeline of friend's status updates and tumble-blog reposts. Snapchat went from an app that sends disappearing photos to a general-purpose multimedia messaging app that happens to still put a timer on photos. Instagram went from a photo and selfie-sharing app to a general-purpose social network with an algorithmic timeline, sponsored posts, and private messaging.
- udkl 10y ago
  Why are we putting a premium on 'retaining it's original features' ? This looks like a logical fallacy.
  - coldtea 10y ago
    Because a lot of radical changeovers in other services are not user needs driven and look more like bait and switch.
- sneak 10y ago
  > (roughly) reverse-chronological list of text-message length posts'. Twitter went algorithmic timeline not too long ago, sadly. Fortunately, it can still be turned off - but is on by default.
  - te_chris 10y ago
    You can turn it off??? This is the best news I've heard in ages.
    - macintux 10y ago
      FWIW, as far as I know it hasn't infected 3rd party clients, or at least Tweetbot is still unaffected.
    - denzil_correa 10y ago
      Of course, you can. https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083#settings https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083#settings
  - majewsky 10y ago
    > it can still be turned off Where? I unchecked every setting that I found, but I still get that "While you were away" and "#something is currently trending" bullshit.
    - denzil_correa 10y ago
      Here is how you do it. https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083#settings https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083#settings
    - coldpie 10y ago
      You can't get rid of the dumb "while you were away" thing, but you can block it. With ublock origin, add this to your "My Filters" settings: twitter.com##has-recap
- krisdol 10y ago
  Twitter switching away from a chronological see-everything timeline was a massive departure from its original idea, on the same scale as many of your other examples. To me that was a core feature and not having it just makes Twitter much less interesting to open.
detaro 10y ago
A lot of that is different from the original, but IMHO not against the "concept of microblogging".

niftich 10y ago

I knew this was going to be challenged, and you're not wrong. But Twitter still feels closest to the original incarnation of 'here be a (roughly) reverse-chronological list of text-message length posts'. They had the timeline, the "friend feed" first, and most enhancements affected only the payload of their messages. Moments was a big innovation, and it's presented as a separate offering on their website. Whereas Facebook's primary function went from a carefully-curated yearbook-style personal and interest page to an... algorithmic timeline of friend's status updates and tumble-blog reposts. Snapchat went from an app that sends disappearing photos to a general-purpose multimedia messaging app that happens to still put a timer on photos. Instagram went from a photo and selfie-sharing app to a general-purpose social network with an algorithmic timeline, sponsored posts, and private messaging.

udkl 10y ago
Why are we putting a premium on 'retaining it's original features' ? This looks like a logical fallacy.
- coldtea 10y ago
  Because a lot of radical changeovers in other services are not user needs driven and look more like bait and switch.
sneak 10y ago
> (roughly) reverse-chronological list of text-message length posts'. Twitter went algorithmic timeline not too long ago, sadly. Fortunately, it can still be turned off - but is on by default.
- te_chris 10y ago
  You can turn it off??? This is the best news I've heard in ages.
  - macintux 10y ago
    FWIW, as far as I know it hasn't infected 3rd party clients, or at least Tweetbot is still unaffected.
  - denzil_correa 10y ago
    Of course, you can. https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083#settings https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083#settings
- majewsky 10y ago
  > it can still be turned off Where? I unchecked every setting that I found, but I still get that "While you were away" and "#something is currently trending" bullshit.
  - denzil_correa 10y ago
    Here is how you do it. https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083#settings https://support.twitter.com/articles/164083#settings
  - coldpie 10y ago
    You can't get rid of the dumb "while you were away" thing, but you can block it. With ublock origin, add this to your "My Filters" settings: twitter.com##has-recap
krisdol 10y ago
Twitter switching away from a chronological see-everything timeline was a massive departure from its original idea, on the same scale as many of your other examples. To me that was a core feature and not having it just makes Twitter much less interesting to open.

detaro 10y ago

A lot of that is different from the original, but IMHO not against the "concept of microblogging".