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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

#61

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…

The whole reason Jack and Ev feuded was over what they thought Twitter should be. Jack thought it was a better version of status messages on AIM. Ev wanted it to be a blog platform like blogger.

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

#62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Works just fine for CB radio.

Depends on where, I don't have CB because in my country it's as effective at delivering insults as twitter. I don't need insult radio when driving.

CB radio: for when you need to road rage to an audience.

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

#63
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is how it became a unicorn because it turns out that humans get addicted to being angry

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, ...

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

#64
The main problem I have with Twitter is that when you reply to your own tweets, the reply will appear as a new tweet on your timeline.

This way your timeline becomes total chaos. Unless you only tweet a single 280 chars text and never add anything to it.

Otherwise, I would use it to post topics I am interested in. Reply to those topics to add more text or when new information becomes available. And have a discussion with people interested in those topics. I wish there was such a platform. It would be like everybody can run their own mini HN.

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

#65
post #46

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.

> But then why even try to have this conversation on Twitter?

Delusion/hope/marketing?

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

#66
post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dunno about you, but most people don’t react to insults with physical injury, though in extreme cases that does happen. Not that baseless insults should be encouraged.

From what I've seen, at least in the sports arena, most of the physical fights start off with verbal insults. That could also be because sports already has an element of Us vs Them built into it. However, the speed with which things escalate from verbal insults is quite amazing.

That's like foreplay in those situations, the verbal abuse is as much about working the offender up - and sizing up their opposition - as it is about actually abusing anyone.

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

#67
post #43

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.

> It's rarely used for true conversations Not a twitter user myself, but I've seen a lot of people use their twitter handles like they'd use an E-Mail address. They say "this is a twitter handle send me a DM if you want to talk with me" instead of "this is my E-Mail address please send me an E-Mail if you want to talk". So they do derive conversational value from twitter.

DMs are chats. It's a totally different medium than tweets. Separate UI and everything. I can understand how you would not know this, since you don't use the product (neither do I, any more), so this is just an FYI.

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

#68
post #46

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.

I suspect that they’re trying to educate on how the platform could be better used.

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

#69

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…

The criticism is something like Twitter enables the worst in humans, it's a platform that can unjustly destroy one's character and career. From a product perspective, its working. Yet it is still a net negative, at least that's the claim.

When someone is being doxxed, and mobs are forming, it's usually happening on that platform.

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

#70

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.

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