3 ms·

I think you're taking for granted how twitter is used as a global cafe by communities that would otherwise be disjointed and isolated. For every controversial t

I think you're taking for granted how twitter is used as a global cafe by communities that would otherwise be disjointed and isolated. For every controversial tweet or tweet of drama, theres thousands of enriching conversations happening that could otherwise not occur. I think it's ironic that negative takes on the twitter model tend to be as shallow and polarizing as they claim the platform to be. As for me, I think there's some worth to it that could be taken even further if decentralized analogues become widely popular.

sp332 7y ago
You could say the same about IRC. GP's point is that not that many people are even on the platform. Twitter has less than 350 million monthly active users. It's about tied with Reddit. MSN had more unique monthly visitors than that in 2004.
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  Those numbers brought about something I'm surprised I haven't noticed before. I don't know a single person who actually uses twitter regularly. Where as I know loads of people who use reddit/discord/facebook. And yet twitter is where all of the media attention goes.
  - hug 7y ago
    Reddit: Lots of users. Mostly pictures of cats. Any insightful comments is... well, in the comments. Any particularly controversial comment is inherently buried by downvotes. Useful if you're combing through communities for information, less useful for grabbing the biggest bit of news. Discord: You gotta be in the server in the first place. And it's real time. The discussion moves on. Even if anyone had anything interesting to say, it's already gone by the time the news wants to report on it. And they're not on the server anyway. Facebook: Ugh, old people and essential oils peddlers. Nothing newsworthy happens on Facebook. Just Kevin being racist again. and then there's twitter: Where most interesting tweets are public, and interacting with a tweet, either insightful or controversial, love it or hate it, just makes it bigger, and more discoverable, inviting more people to pile on or get the boot in, while the media watches on.
gambiting 7y ago
>>For every controversial tweet or tweet of drama, theres thousands of enriching conversations happening that could otherwise not occur. I don't believe that this actually happens. Definitely not on twitter anyway.
- claudiawerner 7y ago
  It absolutely does; I've had civil conversations on Twitter many times, and I've been introduced to new information because of it. I've met people of similar beliefs, convictions and knowledge on Twitter. Ultimately, however, I left Twitter because of the problem pointed out by GP.
- wtmt 7y ago
  >>For every controversial tweet or tweet of drama, theres thousands of enriching conversations happening that could otherwise not occur. > I don't believe that this actually happens. Definitely not on twitter anyway. I believe that the GP has it reversed. I’d rephrase it in the other sense (what I see as reality) as: “For every enriching conversation happening on Twitter, there are millions of controversial tweets or tweets of drama that occur and would anyway occur.”
rob74 7y ago
TBH, the 280-character limit (and of course, the attention economy) doesn't really encourage deep and balanced discourse...
- bproven 7y ago
  Yep, which in turn contributes to this behavior unfortunately... The social media tools are setup perfectly for this - esp twitter.
  - Polylactic_acid 7y ago
    Fast pace insult flinging matches between famous people has better engagement rates than slow, well thought out debate. People can consume insults faster and it brings about more emotion.
    - bproven 7y ago
      Exactly :)
- danharaj 7y ago
  "Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte."

sp332 7y ago

You could say the same about IRC. GP's point is that not that many people are even on the platform. Twitter has less than 350 million monthly active users. It's about tied with Reddit. MSN had more unique monthly visitors than that in 2004.

Polylactic_acid 7y ago
Those numbers brought about something I'm surprised I haven't noticed before. I don't know a single person who actually uses twitter regularly. Where as I know loads of people who use reddit/discord/facebook. And yet twitter is where all of the media attention goes.
- hug 7y ago
  Reddit: Lots of users. Mostly pictures of cats. Any insightful comments is... well, in the comments. Any particularly controversial comment is inherently buried by downvotes. Useful if you're combing through communities for information, less useful for grabbing the biggest bit of news. Discord: You gotta be in the server in the first place. And it's real time. The discussion moves on. Even if anyone had anything interesting to say, it's already gone by the time the news wants to report on it. And they're not on the server anyway. Facebook: Ugh, old people and essential oils peddlers. Nothing newsworthy happens on Facebook. Just Kevin being racist again. and then there's twitter: Where most interesting tweets are public, and interacting with a tweet, either insightful or controversial, love it or hate it, just makes it bigger, and more discoverable, inviting more people to pile on or get the boot in, while the media watches on.

gambiting 7y ago

>>For every controversial tweet or tweet of drama, theres thousands of enriching conversations happening that could otherwise not occur. I don't believe that this actually happens. Definitely not on twitter anyway.

claudiawerner 7y ago
It absolutely does; I've had civil conversations on Twitter many times, and I've been introduced to new information because of it. I've met people of similar beliefs, convictions and knowledge on Twitter. Ultimately, however, I left Twitter because of the problem pointed out by GP.
wtmt 7y ago
>>For every controversial tweet or tweet of drama, theres thousands of enriching conversations happening that could otherwise not occur. > I don't believe that this actually happens. Definitely not on twitter anyway. I believe that the GP has it reversed. I’d rephrase it in the other sense (what I see as reality) as: “For every enriching conversation happening on Twitter, there are millions of controversial tweets or tweets of drama that occur and would anyway occur.”

rob74 7y ago

TBH, the 280-character limit (and of course, the attention economy) doesn't really encourage deep and balanced discourse...

bproven 7y ago
Yep, which in turn contributes to this behavior unfortunately... The social media tools are setup perfectly for this - esp twitter.
- Polylactic_acid 7y ago
  Fast pace insult flinging matches between famous people has better engagement rates than slow, well thought out debate. People can consume insults faster and it brings about more emotion.
  - bproven 7y ago
    Exactly :)
danharaj 7y ago
"Je n’ai fait celle-ci plus longue que parce que je n’ai pas eu le loisir de la faire plus courte."