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We don’t need all of what Twitter did, but we need some of it. The biggest thing Twitter did that nothing else could match was getting extremely specific or lo

We don’t need all of what Twitter did, but we need some of it. The biggest thing Twitter did that nothing else could match was getting extremely specific or local news quickly. Is some web service down? Twitter is faster for info than both isup.me and the official status page. See smoke in the distance? Twitter can tell you all about the fire way before the local news.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
data-ottawa 3y ago
All I want is somewhere the local fire station, mayor, power company, and transit companies, etc. ca share their updates in an easy to find place. Twitter solves real problems for them, but with the last year of changes clearly doesn’t value the requirements that use case needs.
- gochi 3y ago
  Mastodon/AP should be the place most state agencies turn to. It's ridiculous they don't "own the pipe" and continue relying on other platforms as a primary method. It gives them everything they need OOB. Canadian agencies getting shut out by Facebook is the shining proof of this. There should be no reason someone has to make an account with a foreign company just to get fast updates on what is happening locally, that's absurd.
  - theamk 3y ago
    Sadly, many town agencies (my town included) are pretty bad with technology. For example, my town has official website with "calendar" and "news" sections, but it has much less info than Twitter feeds, especially for urgent events like "unexpected street closure". And police department almost never uses that website. I have no definite knowledge, but I suspect that city hall wants to control what appears in resources they own.. and as a result, other agencies found it easier to make an account on Twitter rather than deal with town's commnication manager.
teddyh 3y ago
> See smoke in the distance? Twitter can tell you all about the fire way before the local news. At some point in the past, IRC was the place to find this.
TuringNYC 3y ago
>> The biggest thing Twitter did that nothing else could match was getting extremely specific or local news quickly. I think this is under-selling the different items of value Twitter brings. For example, another thing that Twitter did was giving disenfranchised people a voice. Question for the group -- would the BLM movement have gained national following. Would George Floyd, or Central Park Karen ever have been heard of without Twitter? Growing up, I remember only 2 or 3 incidents that took the national scene. Yet these things happened hundreds of times and were almost wholly ignored until Twitter came along. I'd conclude it would not -- decades of Mainstream Media, both left and right -- gave only passing coverage to the issue. Growing up in Brooklyn I remember many events like this that would have been huge national conversations to never even get covered by the media of record.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

data-ottawa 3y ago

All I want is somewhere the local fire station, mayor, power company, and transit companies, etc. ca share their updates in an easy to find place. Twitter solves real problems for them, but with the last year of changes clearly doesn’t value the requirements that use case needs.

gochi 3y ago
Mastodon/AP should be the place most state agencies turn to. It's ridiculous they don't "own the pipe" and continue relying on other platforms as a primary method. It gives them everything they need OOB. Canadian agencies getting shut out by Facebook is the shining proof of this. There should be no reason someone has to make an account with a foreign company just to get fast updates on what is happening locally, that's absurd.
- theamk 3y ago
  Sadly, many town agencies (my town included) are pretty bad with technology. For example, my town has official website with "calendar" and "news" sections, but it has much less info than Twitter feeds, especially for urgent events like "unexpected street closure". And police department almost never uses that website. I have no definite knowledge, but I suspect that city hall wants to control what appears in resources they own.. and as a result, other agencies found it easier to make an account on Twitter rather than deal with town's commnication manager.

teddyh 3y ago

> See smoke in the distance? Twitter can tell you all about the fire way before the local news. At some point in the past, IRC was the place to find this.

TuringNYC 3y ago

>> The biggest thing Twitter did that nothing else could match was getting extremely specific or local news quickly. I think this is under-selling the different items of value Twitter brings. For example, another thing that Twitter did was giving disenfranchised people a voice. Question for the group -- would the BLM movement have gained national following. Would George Floyd, or Central Park Karen ever have been heard of without Twitter? Growing up, I remember only 2 or 3 incidents that took the national scene. Yet these things happened hundreds of times and were almost wholly ignored until Twitter came along. I'd conclude it would not -- decades of Mainstream Media, both left and right -- gave only passing coverage to the issue. Growing up in Brooklyn I remember many events like this that would have been huge national conversations to never even get covered by the media of record.