Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
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Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
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Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#2This is why I could never figure out why anyone could possibly want to do anything with Twitter...
I keep hearing how it's great to keep up to date with whatever you're interested in - but I just can't see it.
Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#3Yep. Incidentally this is the exact same reason why I can't have conversations by shouting out the window of my car as I speed past people on the street.
Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#4This is why I could never figure out why anyone could possibly want to do anything with Twitter... I keep hearing how it's great to keep up to date with whatever you're interested in - but I just can't see it.
I believe that small blogs and RSS/ATOM are a good answer here. I can't and don't want to follow high-volume streams, be it Twitter or "news" blogs. However, if you combine 20 interesting but low-volume blogs in your feed reader, you will always know when something interesting happened, without having to check all those sites by hand.
(Of course I also have high-volume sites in my feed reader, but that's more for "news" / skimming though, not for keeping in touch.)
Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#5This is why I could never figure out why anyone could possibly want to do anything with Twitter... I keep hearing how it's great to keep up to date with whatever you're interested in - but I just can't see it.
I believe that small blogs and RSS/ATOM are a good answer here. I can't and don't want to follow high-volume streams, be it Twitter or "news" blogs. However, if you combine 20 interesting but low-volume blogs in your feed reader, you will always know when something interesting happened, without having to check all those sites by hand. (Of course I also have high-volume sites in my feed reader, but that's more for "ne…
But what's Twitters advantage over good ol' RSS or ATOM for this use case?
Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#6There are conversations that work on twitter, and ones that don't. In general, twitter conversations are quick back-and-forth affairs. If you need more than 2 tweets to express your thought, you're either using the wrong medium or thinking too far. If that conversation model doesn't fit you, that's perfectly fine, but that's not the fault of twitter. It's just a bad match-up. In that case, it's perfectly fine to respond to a tweet with a link to a medium that does support your model better.
If you do get roped into a conversation where you need more tweets to explain, here's a few simple guidelines:
- Don't split sentences over tweets. People will only read one part.
- If you really must, use "(cont.)" on both tweets (end of the first and start of the second), so it's obvious there was another part. I know that reduces your character limit, but it's worth it to be less ambiguous
- Make each continued tweet a reply to its predecessor. You can reply to your own tweets. It facilitates following the conversation on most clients.
- If it's more than 2 tweets, consider using twitlonger. In general, that should be a last resort, though.
Without trying to make it sound high-handed, there's something of an art to smooth twitter conversations. Terseness is the key. I find them rewarding because, when done right, they have an enormous density of information in a short time.
Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#7Like any high volume channels, you have to ruthlessly curate your Twitter feed. Be picky about who you follow and block the trolls. Twitter is a pretty useful source of information after that. I usually see hints of upcoming vulnerabilities before the details get publicly released. That's pretty useful.
Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I believe that small blogs and RSS/ATOM are a good answer here. I can't and don't want to follow high-volume streams, be it Twitter or "news" blogs. However, if you combine 20 interesting but low-volume blogs in your feed reader, you will always know when something interesting happened, without having to check all those sites by hand. (Of course I also have high-volume sites in my feed reader, but that's more for "ne…
But what's Twitters advantage over good ol' RSS or ATOM for this use case?
It's much simpler to publish on Twitter than via RSS.
Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#9This is why I could never figure out why anyone could possibly want to do anything with Twitter... I keep hearing how it's great to keep up to date with whatever you're interested in - but I just can't see it.
It depends a lot on how you use it. For me, it's a firehose of information (I follow around 2000 accounts). You drink from it when you feel like. If the fire hose is big enough, there's always something interesting to read. It could be the latest news, and it often is, or it could be someone just tweeting something they learned or how they think about things. Twitter enables that with the 140 character limit per tweet, it means the information is very condensed and you can ingest an enormous amount in a short time.
Re: Why I can't have conversations using Twitter
#10When I want to write something over multiple tweets, I use a simple syntax to make it clear that each individual tweet is meant to be read in context with the others: I simply suffix all tweets except the last one with ">" and prefix all tweets except the first one with "Additionally, I make sure each tweet is a reply to its predecessor. Here's an example: https://twitter.com/epaga/status/510316379833393152