8 ms·

Nearly everything online today is long-winded. Hell, most media is long-winded. You can't just know what happened, where, and why; you've got to read a creati

Nearly everything online today is long-winded. Hell, most media is long-winded. You can't just know what happened, where, and why; you've got to read a creative-writing thesis to "put you in the shoes" of the subject du jour. You can't simply watch a lecture; you need fancy graphics and fast cuts with memes woven in. Want a compelling story? You better watch all 6 seasons, including the remaining 4 without the original writers, and be prepared to be disappointed. How about learning to fix your car? In that case, be prepared for 3 minutes worth of info in 20 minutes of some schmo complaining about why Hyundais suck while he constantly jiggles the camera and gloats about much more clever he is than other mechanics. News, blogs, recipes, shows, instructional videos... all pretty much blow chunks. Any time I simply want straight forward information it becomes a matter of frequent fast-forwarding and combining of info from disparate sources when it shouldn't be necessary. Get. To. The. Point.

kirkules 4y ago
It's easy to think all of the things you wanted to say were important, so you leave them in. But often they weren't so important to your eventual audience.
Pxtl 4y ago
Honestly I think this is part of the reason why Twitter was so successful for so long. The rest of the internet has become so padded for length (even streaming TV content -- how many shows have you watched where you thought "this would be better as a movie"?) one platform that demands you focus on being short, punchy, and getting straight to the point would obviously ascend.
- kibwen 4y ago
  And instead people make tweetchains a dozen long, making Twitter the worst of all worlds. It got better when they raised the cap from 140, but it's still too low to saying anything of substance or nuance.
  - Pxtl 4y ago
    Yes, but tweetchains are notable in that they're exceptions to the normal flow of chatter on twitter. And a good tweetchain will have people retweeting-out the good parts. Should every site be twitter? Hell no. But is it a good thing that one or two major social media sites demand brevity and distilling your thoughts? Yes.
    - kibwen 4y ago
      > is it a good thing A different thing, certainly. An interesting thing, probably. A good thing? Just because something is different and interesting doesn't mean it's good. Twitter exists as a site on the internet, which is probably the most charitable thing that deserves to be said about it.
thiht 4y ago
Honestly this is why TikTok ended up being so successful. Short videos, straight to the point, with the Reddit vibe of "this is from an actual human". I routinely try out new recipes I've seen on TikTok (not the trendy influencer recipes that just look good though, actual recipes from people) and am never disappointed. It takes like 30 seconds to get the gist of the recipe, and the details are in description or comments without any fluff.

kirkules 4y ago

It's easy to think all of the things you wanted to say were important, so you leave them in. But often they weren't so important to your eventual audience.

Pxtl 4y ago

Honestly I think this is part of the reason why Twitter was so successful for so long. The rest of the internet has become so padded for length (even streaming TV content -- how many shows have you watched where you thought "this would be better as a movie"?) one platform that demands you focus on being short, punchy, and getting straight to the point would obviously ascend.

kibwen 4y ago
And instead people make tweetchains a dozen long, making Twitter the worst of all worlds. It got better when they raised the cap from 140, but it's still too low to saying anything of substance or nuance.
- Pxtl 4y ago
  Yes, but tweetchains are notable in that they're exceptions to the normal flow of chatter on twitter. And a good tweetchain will have people retweeting-out the good parts. Should every site be twitter? Hell no. But is it a good thing that one or two major social media sites demand brevity and distilling your thoughts? Yes.
  - kibwen 4y ago
    > is it a good thing A different thing, certainly. An interesting thing, probably. A good thing? Just because something is different and interesting doesn't mean it's good. Twitter exists as a site on the internet, which is probably the most charitable thing that deserves to be said about it.

thiht 4y ago

Honestly this is why TikTok ended up being so successful. Short videos, straight to the point, with the Reddit vibe of "this is from an actual human". I routinely try out new recipes I've seen on TikTok (not the trendy influencer recipes that just look good though, actual recipes from people) and am never disappointed. It takes like 30 seconds to get the gist of the recipe, and the details are in description or comments without any fluff.