4 ms·

It's hard for me to quit twitter because no matter how low quality the average tweet is, there are always diamonds in the rough -- perfectly composed little kno

by modo_ 7y ago

It's hard for me to quit twitter because no matter how low quality the average tweet is, there are always diamonds in the rough -- perfectly composed little knowledge bombs. If you happen to open the app at the right time Twitter can be very high signal/noise. I keep coming back because of the thought that maybe I'll open it and be introduced to a compelling thought that would have otherwise been buried in 20 pages of cruft

moab 7y ago
I find it hard to believe that something deeply insightful can be compressed into 140 characters, or even a collection of tweets. I've read tweet-chains from twitter pundits, and though these longer form tweets do have insight, it's still more like getting an elevator pitch from a smart person than actually getting a deep understanding of the reasoning that leads to said opinions. Basically, my feeling from using twitter is that it is a venue for expressing opinions in clever/snarky ways, and reading other people's clever/snarky opinions and feeling amused. But I might be very wrong, or following the wrong people. Do you have any examples of tweets that are highly information-dense and making insightful points?
- modo_ 7y ago
  All fair points. I've found that radically limiting the people I follow has had a huge impact on the quality of my feed (and it's still not great). More often than not a tweet provides me with an introduction to a new topic / idea that I can then further explore off the site. I struggled to come up with good tweets on the spot -- here's my best shot: https://twitter.com/steveschoger/status/997125312411570176 https://twitter.com/steveschoger/status/997125312411570176 https://twitter.com/tobyshorin/status/1155965565963399173 https://twitter.com/tobyshorin/status/1155965565963399173 https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936 https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936 https://twitter.com/jmj/status/1114598412375035905 https://twitter.com/jmj/status/1114598412375035905 Naval's does feel particularly like an elevator pitch though
  - moab 7y ago
    Thanks for sharing these. It's funny, I had exactly that series by Naval in mind earlier. I think the database tweet is really useful (reminds me of a lecture slide).

by modo_ 7y ago

moab 7y ago

I find it hard to believe that something deeply insightful can be compressed into 140 characters, or even a collection of tweets. I've read tweet-chains from twitter pundits, and though these longer form tweets do have insight, it's still more like getting an elevator pitch from a smart person than actually getting a deep understanding of the reasoning that leads to said opinions. Basically, my feeling from using twitter is that it is a venue for expressing opinions in clever/snarky ways, and reading other people's clever/snarky opinions and feeling amused. But I might be very wrong, or following the wrong people. Do you have any examples of tweets that are highly information-dense and making insightful points?

modo_ 7y ago
All fair points. I've found that radically limiting the people I follow has had a huge impact on the quality of my feed (and it's still not great). More often than not a tweet provides me with an introduction to a new topic / idea that I can then further explore off the site. I struggled to come up with good tweets on the spot -- here's my best shot: https://twitter.com/steveschoger/status/997125312411570176 https://twitter.com/steveschoger/status/997125312411570176 https://twitter.com/tobyshorin/status/1155965565963399173 https://twitter.com/tobyshorin/status/1155965565963399173 https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936 https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103360646823936 https://twitter.com/jmj/status/1114598412375035905 https://twitter.com/jmj/status/1114598412375035905 Naval's does feel particularly like an elevator pitch though
- moab 7y ago
  Thanks for sharing these. It's funny, I had exactly that series by Naval in mind earlier. I think the database tweet is really useful (reminds me of a lecture slide).