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Do you think Twitter was better when it was simpler? I expect Twitter likely has some data to support their move towards more complicated and longer tweets plu

Do you think Twitter was better when it was simpler? I expect Twitter likely has some data to support their move towards more complicated and longer tweets plus more features. This reminds me of how I think back on the "good old days" of playing Warcraft Orcs & Humans, but if I were to try and play it now it would be basically unplayable due to missing features and functions that modern RTS games have accustomed me to.

CobrastanJorji 5y ago
How dare you! Needing to build roads was definitely a good design decision and not at all a pointless and irritating thing to try and optimize around.
hn_throwaway_99 5y ago
> I expect Twitter likely has some data to support their move towards more complicated and longer tweets plus more features. With regards to tweet length, they definitely do in the form of average tweet length based on different languages. Cant remember where they posted this data, but they found that in more "compact" languages (i.e. languages where you can put more meaning into fewer characters) almost all tweets were under the max length. For languages like English, though, a much higher percentage of tweets bumped up to the max length and then spilled into the next tweet. They basically then optimized the length so that, even when using less compact languages like English, the majority of ideas people wanted to share could fit in a single tweet.
slver 5y ago
To me it was, of course everyone is free to see it their own way. Every social network seems to evolve along the same lines. It starts with a clear concept of what it is, it gets popular based on it, then it starts getting lots of people, and lots of features, becomes a mess, so the timeline gets algorithmic, and suddenly all that's left of the original service is bunch of random noise from random people on your home page/app when you open it, but you keep doing it out of inertia. Twitter was revolutionary because you DIDN'T have to read someone's long thought on whatever subject. Instead they were forced to keep it short. You know the saying "I didn't have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one"? It's funny, but it's true. It's very easy to spew garbage. Being succinct takes time.
- Talanes 5y ago
  My memory of that time is that most people took to that hard challenge by just side-stepping and linking off-platform. Jokes would be crafted into 140 characters, serious discussion would be a link to your blog.
ganafagol 5y ago
The target group has changed. Back in the day it was better for the geeks. They don't care about all that extra crap as much. But they do care about a simple API they can start hacking with and just drop a status line. But today it's used by governments, election campaigns and presidents for important PR communication. And by grandma at home. They need those features and don't care about simplicity. Target groups change as you grow. And that's also why often times original founders and engineers leave because it's not anymore the thing they signed up for. But they get replaced by other people.

CobrastanJorji 5y ago

How dare you! Needing to build roads was definitely a good design decision and not at all a pointless and irritating thing to try and optimize around.

hn_throwaway_99 5y ago

> I expect Twitter likely has some data to support their move towards more complicated and longer tweets plus more features. With regards to tweet length, they definitely do in the form of average tweet length based on different languages. Cant remember where they posted this data, but they found that in more "compact" languages (i.e. languages where you can put more meaning into fewer characters) almost all tweets were under the max length. For languages like English, though, a much higher percentage of tweets bumped up to the max length and then spilled into the next tweet. They basically then optimized the length so that, even when using less compact languages like English, the majority of ideas people wanted to share could fit in a single tweet.

slver 5y ago

To me it was, of course everyone is free to see it their own way. Every social network seems to evolve along the same lines. It starts with a clear concept of what it is, it gets popular based on it, then it starts getting lots of people, and lots of features, becomes a mess, so the timeline gets algorithmic, and suddenly all that's left of the original service is bunch of random noise from random people on your home page/app when you open it, but you keep doing it out of inertia. Twitter was revolutionary because you DIDN'T have to read someone's long thought on whatever subject. Instead they were forced to keep it short. You know the saying "I didn't have time to write a short letter so I wrote a long one"? It's funny, but it's true. It's very easy to spew garbage. Being succinct takes time.

Talanes 5y ago
My memory of that time is that most people took to that hard challenge by just side-stepping and linking off-platform. Jokes would be crafted into 140 characters, serious discussion would be a link to your blog.

ganafagol 5y ago

The target group has changed. Back in the day it was better for the geeks. They don't care about all that extra crap as much. But they do care about a simple API they can start hacking with and just drop a status line. But today it's used by governments, election campaigns and presidents for important PR communication. And by grandma at home. They need those features and don't care about simplicity. Target groups change as you grow. And that's also why often times original founders and engineers leave because it's not anymore the thing they signed up for. But they get replaced by other people.