4 ms·

Conversations on Twitter? I use Twitter as read-only for information to see what certain people and groups are up to in near real-time.

chton 12y ago
There's more than one way to Twitter. If you know some people on it personally, you're more likely to engage in conversations.
- 01Michael10 12y ago
  There are people I do know on Twitter but do not converse with them on there. I email, text, or IM them. Always use the best tools that are available...
  - chton 12y ago
    I agree, use the best tools. But if you email or text them, there is no way for other people to join the conversation. Think of a twitter conversation as one at a party where you know people. Anybody can come join in, and can add value. It's more akin to conversing on IRC than over email.
    - 01Michael10 12y ago
      Holy crap, now it's a multi-person conversation? I would say let's meet for drinks... How about Hangouts or what ever one uses on iPhones? Maybe this is more for the under 25 crowd who like to do things the hard way on 5" screens with no keyboards. Not me...
      - chton 12y ago
        It can be. This conversation is a multi-person one too. That's still different than, say, hangouts because everybody is free to reply, not just people you invited. Maybe somebody neither of us know will read this next month and come up with an interesting counterpoint. In any case, using some form of video calling is too intrusive. I can type this reply, do something else for 10 minutes, then check back. But then I was always one for text mediums rather than video or audio calls :)
coldpie 12y ago
God, I know. I keep hearing about conversations and such on twitter, while I have a hard time fitting a single thought into a tweet, much less a thoughtful response to someone's query. Look! Even that sentence was longer than a tweet! I don't know how people do it.
- chton 12y ago
  Terseness is a learned skill. Verbosity is too. They're not mutually exclusive, you can apply them where they work. And they're both useful. (That's exactly 140 characters for you :) )
  - eevilspock 12y ago
    "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." — Blaise Pascal (sometimes wrongly attributed to Mark Twain)
  - vacri 12y ago
    Being terse is not a good thing. Being succinct is.
    - chton 12y ago
      As far as I know, the two are synonyms in common parlance. I chose 'terse' because it's the usual converse of 'verbose'.
      - vacri 12y ago
        Terseness is short, abrupt, irritated. Succinctness is short, clearly explained. They both mean short, but the tones of the words are quite different. '"Leave me be!", he replied succinctly' doesn't work, for example. To me, this is exactly the kind of nuance that is lost by training yourself to limit ideas to 140 characters.
        chton 12y ago

chton 12y ago

There's more than one way to Twitter. If you know some people on it personally, you're more likely to engage in conversations.

01Michael10 12y ago
There are people I do know on Twitter but do not converse with them on there. I email, text, or IM them. Always use the best tools that are available...
- chton 12y ago
  I agree, use the best tools. But if you email or text them, there is no way for other people to join the conversation. Think of a twitter conversation as one at a party where you know people. Anybody can come join in, and can add value. It's more akin to conversing on IRC than over email.
  - 01Michael10 12y ago
    Holy crap, now it's a multi-person conversation? I would say let's meet for drinks... How about Hangouts or what ever one uses on iPhones? Maybe this is more for the under 25 crowd who like to do things the hard way on 5" screens with no keyboards. Not me...
    - chton 12y ago
      It can be. This conversation is a multi-person one too. That's still different than, say, hangouts because everybody is free to reply, not just people you invited. Maybe somebody neither of us know will read this next month and come up with an interesting counterpoint. In any case, using some form of video calling is too intrusive. I can type this reply, do something else for 10 minutes, then check back. But then I was always one for text mediums rather than video or audio calls :)

coldpie 12y ago

God, I know. I keep hearing about conversations and such on twitter, while I have a hard time fitting a single thought into a tweet, much less a thoughtful response to someone's query. Look! Even that sentence was longer than a tweet! I don't know how people do it.

chton 12y ago
Terseness is a learned skill. Verbosity is too. They're not mutually exclusive, you can apply them where they work. And they're both useful. (That's exactly 140 characters for you :) )
- eevilspock 12y ago
  "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." — Blaise Pascal (sometimes wrongly attributed to Mark Twain)
- vacri 12y ago
  Being terse is not a good thing. Being succinct is.
  - chton 12y ago
    As far as I know, the two are synonyms in common parlance. I chose 'terse' because it's the usual converse of 'verbose'.
    - vacri 12y ago
      Terseness is short, abrupt, irritated. Succinctness is short, clearly explained. They both mean short, but the tones of the words are quite different. '"Leave me be!", he replied succinctly' doesn't work, for example. To me, this is exactly the kind of nuance that is lost by training yourself to limit ideas to 140 characters.
      - chton 12y ago