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I've been saying this for a little while now: Twitter should really try to capitalize on Tweetstorms. What they don't seem to realize is that Tweetstorms enable

by md224 10y ago

I've been saying this for a little while now: Twitter should really try to capitalize on Tweetstorms. What they don't seem to realize is that Tweetstorms enable Twitter to be a kind of inverse annotation platform. Most annotation platforms enable large chunks of text to be dissected by readers, but a Tweetstorm is the opposite: the author specifies the exact segmentation of the text as they release it, and each segment can be individually commented on or shared. It forces authors to present their ideas as a sequence of small interlocking arguments. The medium enforces rhetorical granularity, for better or worse. I can't be the only person who sees this potential. Come on, Twitter, build this out... I'll even let you hire me to work on it. :)

lhnz 10y ago
What is there to build out? I guess it could be made more obvious for those that don't get it, but it's already being used in exactly the way you describe by Twitter's power users.
- walterbell 10y ago
  Integrate it with W3C annotation standard, extending the standard to incorporate tweet storm strengths.
- md224 10y ago
  You're right that it's already usable, but it could be even better. For example: 1) Making it easier to compose Tweetstorms (third-party services like WriteRack exist, but it would be nice to have official support). 2) Enhancing the display of Tweetstorms to make them easier to follow. Right now, the UI for viewing Tweet replies is the same regardless of who's replying to who. Twitter could make it so that a person's replies to themselves (the building blocks of a Tweetstorm) have a unique look-and-feel compared to replies from followers. This would emphasize the Tweetstorm as a distinct type of posting, rather than something jury-rigged out of self-replies. 3) Not Tweetstorm specific, but make it easier to have and follow branched conversations. Sites like Reddit have this down already, while Facebook and Twitter seem reluctant to let anything go beyond one level down. Let people branch! It would actually make things easier to follow, and it would also allow for something (sort of) novel: branched Tweetstorms! Linear text is so 20th century! :)
  - untog 10y ago
    What makes tweetstorms better than just letting people write long tweets? Tweetstorms infuriate me because they totally dominate my feed and ensure that the same tweet keeps being shoved back to the top of the timeline. Much better to let people write long tweets and just hide the part >140 characters behind an expand button. So I can safely ignore the whole thing.
    - madeofpalk 10y ago
      The pacing of tweetstorms is what makes them unique. It's something fairly unique - if I wanted "longer tweets" I would go to Medium. The timeline thing is a real(ish) problem that can be solved with UI, in a similar way how they show conversations inline (automatically collapse them)
paulgb 10y ago
(Shameless plug) I've been working on an open-source tool to visualize twitter conversations and I've come to appreciate tweetstorms a bit more. Here's this tweetstorm visualized with the tool: https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-staticfiles-25g9k/tvp.html https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-staticfiles-25g9k/tvp.h...
- somedangedname 10y ago
  That's really cool. I've always found it difficult to follow discussions on Twitter. Maybe the UI is better for logged-in users but I've never bothered.
- mullsork 10y ago
  Wow that's cool! Making it obvious which branch is part of the actual storm rather than someone replying would be nice. Once zoomed in my avatar recognition doesn't work as well. Or maybe the tweet storm is always the left most branch and I just didn't realise that? :) In any case super cool stuff!
ryanSrich 10y ago
I'm a designer and I agree. The one quick improvement Twitter could make to the tweetstorm is to automatically (or giving the option to) remove the users handle when replaying to themselves when initiating the storm.
- scholia 10y ago
  You can already reply to yourself and Your handle doesn't appear, does it? At least, it doesn't if I use the web interface. Otherwise, this pic will give you a good idea of the changes Twitter is making to the tweet structure... http://www.insider.gr/sites/default/files/57e01f4edd08956b5e8b4aee-1999.jpg http://www.insider.gr/sites/default/files/57e01f4edd08956b5e...
  - mwpmaybe 10y ago
    Even if it does appear, you can simply remove it and Twitter will preserve the reply/threading regardless.
cpeterso 10y ago
Twitter users find new ways to use the service, such as tweet storms or customer support, but the company fails to recognize these opportunities to "pave the cow paths" and improve there usability of their service.
jalada 10y ago
Whilst everyone is plugging their own stuff, we’ve been working on a little thing called Stormchaser for aggregating Tweetstorms in your timeline and lists: https://www.stormchaser.io https://www.stormchaser.io
- Traubenfuchs 10y ago
  Because twitter is an insufficient blogging platform and normal blogs don't attract enough views people use tools to turn blogposts into tweets and tweets into blogposts. This is a bit ridiculous. Not trying to demean your product, but it shouldn't be necessary to have it.

by md224 10y ago

lhnz 10y ago

What is there to build out? I guess it could be made more obvious for those that don't get it, but it's already being used in exactly the way you describe by Twitter's power users.

walterbell 10y ago
Integrate it with W3C annotation standard, extending the standard to incorporate tweet storm strengths.
md224 10y ago
You're right that it's already usable, but it could be even better. For example: 1) Making it easier to compose Tweetstorms (third-party services like WriteRack exist, but it would be nice to have official support). 2) Enhancing the display of Tweetstorms to make them easier to follow. Right now, the UI for viewing Tweet replies is the same regardless of who's replying to who. Twitter could make it so that a person's replies to themselves (the building blocks of a Tweetstorm) have a unique look-and-feel compared to replies from followers. This would emphasize the Tweetstorm as a distinct type of posting, rather than something jury-rigged out of self-replies. 3) Not Tweetstorm specific, but make it easier to have and follow branched conversations. Sites like Reddit have this down already, while Facebook and Twitter seem reluctant to let anything go beyond one level down. Let people branch! It would actually make things easier to follow, and it would also allow for something (sort of) novel: branched Tweetstorms! Linear text is so 20th century! :)
- untog 10y ago
  What makes tweetstorms better than just letting people write long tweets? Tweetstorms infuriate me because they totally dominate my feed and ensure that the same tweet keeps being shoved back to the top of the timeline. Much better to let people write long tweets and just hide the part >140 characters behind an expand button. So I can safely ignore the whole thing.
  - madeofpalk 10y ago
    The pacing of tweetstorms is what makes them unique. It's something fairly unique - if I wanted "longer tweets" I would go to Medium. The timeline thing is a real(ish) problem that can be solved with UI, in a similar way how they show conversations inline (automatically collapse them)

paulgb 10y ago

(Shameless plug) I've been working on an open-source tool to visualize twitter conversations and I've come to appreciate tweetstorms a bit more. Here's this tweetstorm visualized with the tool: https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-staticfiles-25g9k/tvp.html https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-staticfiles-25g9k/tvp.h...

somedangedname 10y ago
That's really cool. I've always found it difficult to follow discussions on Twitter. Maybe the UI is better for logged-in users but I've never bothered.
mullsork 10y ago
Wow that's cool! Making it obvious which branch is part of the actual storm rather than someone replying would be nice. Once zoomed in my avatar recognition doesn't work as well. Or maybe the tweet storm is always the left most branch and I just didn't realise that? :) In any case super cool stuff!

ryanSrich 10y ago

I'm a designer and I agree. The one quick improvement Twitter could make to the tweetstorm is to automatically (or giving the option to) remove the users handle when replaying to themselves when initiating the storm.

scholia 10y ago
You can already reply to yourself and Your handle doesn't appear, does it? At least, it doesn't if I use the web interface. Otherwise, this pic will give you a good idea of the changes Twitter is making to the tweet structure... http://www.insider.gr/sites/default/files/57e01f4edd08956b5e8b4aee-1999.jpg http://www.insider.gr/sites/default/files/57e01f4edd08956b5e...
- mwpmaybe 10y ago
  Even if it does appear, you can simply remove it and Twitter will preserve the reply/threading regardless.

cpeterso 10y ago

Twitter users find new ways to use the service, such as tweet storms or customer support, but the company fails to recognize these opportunities to "pave the cow paths" and improve there usability of their service.

jalada 10y ago

Whilst everyone is plugging their own stuff, we’ve been working on a little thing called Stormchaser for aggregating Tweetstorms in your timeline and lists: https://www.stormchaser.io https://www.stormchaser.io

Traubenfuchs 10y ago
Because twitter is an insufficient blogging platform and normal blogs don't attract enough views people use tools to turn blogposts into tweets and tweets into blogposts. This is a bit ridiculous. Not trying to demean your product, but it shouldn't be necessary to have it.