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How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

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Re: How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

#71

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #52

Twitter was founded as a micro-blogging service, not a forum. It evolved into the anonymous comment section for the entire internet somewhere along the way. Seems like neither side were being self aware in this case. I'm also not sure exactly what the product problem is with Twitter. The only exposure I have to a group of people upset about Twitter are the folks that Joe Rogan had on his podcast, and their complaints…

Don’t you think the inherent design — “microblogging” — encourages a toxic environment? Most people aren’t poets or great writers, so I just frequently see people talking past each other or misreading what has been said because there is zero nuance.

Re: How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

#72

Post by Asooka »

aboutruby wrote: post #26

I think only Reddit has mastered the large-scale discussion involving thousands or ten of thousands of people at the same time.

I prefer 4chan's system with automatic reply linking. The issue with Reddit and HN is they model conversation as a tree, but real written conversation between several people is usually a DAG with one person replying to several posts at once. The UI can definitely be improved, but trees ain't it.

Re: How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

#73

Post by eeeeeeeeeeeee »

b1llyhoyle wrote: post #53

Getting lost in all this noise is Jack's willingness to have a conversation and also admit his product's shortcomings. How many other CEOs subject themselves to a similar, unscripted experiment? Kudos to Jack for being transparent and accessible.

That was my first impression, but the guy has a history of saying the right things but no real action follows.

It begins to become a bit hollow, like Zuckerberg saying they’ve made mistakes and need to do better.

Re: How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

#75

Post by grawprog »

eeeeeeeeeeeee wrote: post #70
BoiledCabbage wrote: post #22

Regardless of what Twitter is or isn't, how in the world is the CEO surprised by how his product works? And we're not talking some obscure corner case, but basic use case? Having a conversation was a learning experience for him and his team? Such a basic level of unfamiliarity with their own product gives me a lot of pause that he can do anything to guide the company on fixing rampant automated accounts or making it…

The one use case I’ve seen of Twitter is rapid fire updates about some developing situation, like an emergency. But it can’t be a back and forth discussion. It can be one person or many people adding to a combined discussion via that hashtag. However, even when I see people do what is effectively a long form blog post on Twitter, I often give up on it before the end because it’s too frustrating.

>Twitter is rapid fire updates about some developing situation.

This is the only thing i've ever used Twitter for. It's the best place to find out about problems on my local transit system. Long before the company ever gives an alert, there'll dozens of people tweeting angrily about the problems.

Re: How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

#76

Post by Ntrails »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #63
harryf wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Especially when you can deliver insults without the threat of receiving a smack in the face back

In the UK you can get arrested for tweeting in opposition to the groupthink, not a smack in the face as such, ...

Can you cite some examples of people being prosecuted for saying things on twitter that aren't, you know, bomb threats or holocaust denial etc.

Re: How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

#77

Post by izzydata »

I was never under the impression that conversation was a thing Twitter was supposed to do. It is more like a blog than a chat client.

I don't think anyone would complain that making blog updates in Slack via pinned messages is difficult.

Re: How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

#79

Post by inerte »

mcv wrote: post #46
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, this is a really atypical mode of using Twitter. Normally it's used for shouting at your audience/someone you disagree with. It's rarely used for true conversations, so I can somewhat see why the CEO is unfamiliar with its performance in that role.

But then why even try to have this conversation on Twitter? You'd think that after a decade he would have some idea of what Twitter is good and bad at. I can imagine having this kind of failed interview when the company was 3 years old, but after more than a decade, it's a bit bizarre. Unless this was explicitly meant as a test, and not simply an online interview.

It was a massive experiment. Now they have qualitative feedback to sift through and act on.

I think he knew it was going to fail, just not the many ways how it would.

Re: How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t

#80

Post by matwood »

mc32 wrote: post #33
stickfigure wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

most people don’t react to insults with physical injury I'm not quite so sure about that. Most people don't hurl insults face-to-face. If people acted like their twitter personalities IRL, I would expect to see a massive uptick in fistfights.

It depends on what you consider “insult”. From taking public transit, waiting in bus stops and walking through blue collar neighborhoods most insults are either ignored or get another insult in return.

Maybe we hang out in different circles, but I've never heard the level of insults IRL that I have read on Twitter. I have a feeling the large majority of those doing the insulting would be terrified to say those things to someones face because they know a physical altercation would end up being the common response.
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