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Why do I keep encountering people who apparently think that Twitter is an appropriate medium for conveying thoughtful, considered information?

by mcherm 8y ago

rhacker 8y ago
Because they are trying to get the highest number of people to see it - and that is Twitter, not a link on twitter, but Twitter.
xena 8y ago
Because people don't click links
olliej 8y ago
I have wondered about that recently as well - I assume it's because "everyone" already has a twitter account, so if you do have some one off occasion that you want to say a pile of stuff, you already have that account that is easily sharable. Any other blog like service requires you signing up for another account, and sharing your email address again. So you use twitter. The next time you want to say something, you still don't have a blog account so you take the same logic and end up posting through twitter again. Things like threader seem to make it easier for your thread to be shared as a single document now, which makes it less annoying to share and/or read. Then, with the death of Reader no one really has a non-FB, non-Twitter style mechanism for following people any more so if you want to say something and encourage people to follow you then twitter is your best bet. Likewise if you want to hear what other people say (ugh, internet commentators ;) ) twitter makes it possible to easily get replies and you don't need to worry about comment spam continuously appearing.
tptacek 8y ago
Because, for all its flaws, it is quite effective at conveying thoughtful, considered information.
yholio 8y ago
It's the secret sauce of all social networks, users are strongly encouraged to create and distribute content on the platform itself, as opposed to talking about external content. They use dark UI flows, subtle psychological tricks and emotional rewards, everything to abstract the real world away and presume the only audience that matters is that within the walls.

Why do I keep encountering people who apparently think that Twitter is an appropriate medium for conveying thoughtful, considered information?

by mcherm 8y ago

Why do I keep encountering people who apparently think that Twitter is an appropriate medium for conveying thoughtful, considered information?

rhacker 8y ago

Because they are trying to get the highest number of people to see it - and that is Twitter, not a link on twitter, but Twitter.

xena 8y ago

Because people don't click links

olliej 8y ago

I have wondered about that recently as well - I assume it's because "everyone" already has a twitter account, so if you do have some one off occasion that you want to say a pile of stuff, you already have that account that is easily sharable. Any other blog like service requires you signing up for another account, and sharing your email address again. So you use twitter. The next time you want to say something, you still don't have a blog account so you take the same logic and end up posting through twitter again. Things like threader seem to make it easier for your thread to be shared as a single document now, which makes it less annoying to share and/or read. Then, with the death of Reader no one really has a non-FB, non-Twitter style mechanism for following people any more so if you want to say something and encourage people to follow you then twitter is your best bet. Likewise if you want to hear what other people say (ugh, internet commentators ;) ) twitter makes it possible to easily get replies and you don't need to worry about comment spam continuously appearing.

tptacek 8y ago

Because, for all its flaws, it is quite effective at conveying thoughtful, considered information.

yholio 8y ago

It's the secret sauce of all social networks, users are strongly encouraged to create and distribute content on the platform itself, as opposed to talking about external content. They use dark UI flows, subtle psychological tricks and emotional rewards, everything to abstract the real world away and presume the only audience that matters is that within the walls.