3 ms·

Honest question: what are some ways Twitter could be better? I am having a hard time imagining a clear direction.

joshstrange 4y ago
"Better" for who? I can't see almost anything Twitter has done in the last decade as being "better". Off the top of my head: * Killing off tons of client by their changes to the API * Switching to algorithmic timeline instead of chronological * Infesting my timeline with "X like this post", "You might also like", and a ton of ads * Horrible UI for viewing threads even though it's now better supported (ability to tweet a whole thread from the official UI) * Podcasts‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽ * Twitter Blue, I still have no clue who uses this or why * Moments or Topics (or whatever that one tab in the official app is) * Their clone of that "podcasts but worse" service that I've already forgotten about. (Spaces! I had to go look it up) Other than increasing the character limit (ok, there was 1 thing) there isn't a single thing they've done recently (or over the last decade) that I can point to and say "That made Twitter better!". It to the point that you have to be sadist to use their official clients, every time I open the website or the official client I get frustrated. Now if you just care about stockholders then sure, shoving a ton of ads in your feed and filling your feed with people you don't follow or care about probably makes sense, in the short term, because that's all stockholders care about.
- dawnerd 4y ago
  I pay for twitter blue just to get rid of the spaces icon in the nav bar. I don’t want to listen to what people have to say and it doesn’t need to constantly be in my face.
- francogt 4y ago
  I too think these changes weren’t better. Wouldn’t going back on most of these constitute a “better” twitter?
- beefalo 4y ago
  Only mentioned can reply was a good feature add
unsupp0rted 4y ago
It could be better in some of the ways HN is better. By encouraging intellectual curiosity, discouraging low effort put-downs that call everybody Hitler, etc. And by hiring @Dang or a clone of him to make the most visible judgement calls, like what to do in the Hunter Biden scenario or whether to ban a sitting president for lying, for instance.
- topspin 4y ago
  > like what to do in the Hunter Biden scenario or whether to ban a sitting president for lying, for instance. Why go back so far? As of four days ago all you need to get ban hammered on Twitter is win an election: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33038614 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33038614
abudabi123 4y ago
Twitter will be better minus the special operation bots a technically sophisticated person like Elon Musk won't let Wallstreet wolf reporting pull the wool over peoples's eyes. Elon Musk speaks of the economy in the limit, is that a clear enough direction?

"Better" for who? I can't see almost anything Twitter has done in the last decade as being "better". Off the top of my head: * Killing off tons of client by their changes to the API * Switching to algorithmic timeline instead of chronological * Infesting my timeline with "X like this post", "You might also like", and a ton of ads * Horrible UI for viewing threads even though it's now better supported (ability to tweet a whole thread from the official UI) * Podcasts‽‽‽‽‽‽‽‽ * Twitter Blue, I still have no clue who uses this or why * Moments or Topics (or whatever that one tab in the official app is) * Their clone of that "podcasts but worse" service that I've already forgotten about. (Spaces! I had to go look it up) Other than increasing the character limit (ok, there was 1 thing) there isn't a single thing they've done recently (or over the last decade) that I can point to and say "That made Twitter better!". It to the point that you have to be sadist to use their official clients, every time I open the website or the official client I get frustrated. Now if you just care about stockholders then sure, shoving a ton of ads in your feed and filling your feed with people you don't follow or care about probably makes sense, in the short term, because that's all stockholders care about.

dawnerd 4y ago
I pay for twitter blue just to get rid of the spaces icon in the nav bar. I don’t want to listen to what people have to say and it doesn’t need to constantly be in my face.
francogt 4y ago
I too think these changes weren’t better. Wouldn’t going back on most of these constitute a “better” twitter?
beefalo 4y ago
Only mentioned can reply was a good feature add

unsupp0rted 4y ago

It could be better in some of the ways HN is better. By encouraging intellectual curiosity, discouraging low effort put-downs that call everybody Hitler, etc. And by hiring @Dang or a clone of him to make the most visible judgement calls, like what to do in the Hunter Biden scenario or whether to ban a sitting president for lying, for instance.

topspin 4y ago
> like what to do in the Hunter Biden scenario or whether to ban a sitting president for lying, for instance. Why go back so far? As of four days ago all you need to get ban hammered on Twitter is win an election: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33038614 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33038614

abudabi123 4y ago

Twitter will be better minus the special operation bots a technically sophisticated person like Elon Musk won't let Wallstreet wolf reporting pull the wool over peoples's eyes. Elon Musk speaks of the economy in the limit, is that a clear enough direction?