I believe you're right: most Tweet that are ostensibly talk to somebody aren't meant to be read by them. They're meant to be read by the followers of the person

I believe you're right: most Tweet that are ostensibly talk to somebody aren't meant to be read by them. They're meant to be read by the followers of the person tweeting. You could probably make it much more peaceful while losing nothing of what people use it for by putting all accounts into follower-only-mode. The different groups could scream at each other (and have their ingroup-rituals completed) without the other side ever even noticing that they're being screamed at.