Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#1

Post by thisisdallas » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 3:32 PM UTC

I haven’t been on Twitter in several years because of the toxic nature. It seems like everything is now political or social commentary which usually goes, “I’m right you’re wrong”

Is that primarily the case in the startup world today? Is Twitter still a useful platform for reading about bootstrapping founders, new technologies, and interesting business related discussion?

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#2

Post by kobiguru » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 3:39 PM UTC

No. Try Muting keywords that are common to the discussion you don't like.

I don't like twitter takes on politics so I mute words around politics.

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#3

Post by smoldesu » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

I've found that using Twitter was more trouble than it's worth. Even when I filtered out as many keywords as I could, my feed was just filled with sad or inflammatory content. With their character limit, insightful discussion is basically DOA. I'd recommend sticking to niche forums for this kinda stuff: they might not be as large, but these communities are oftentimes much more dedicated to their field. There's no "I'm right you're wrong" because other people are there to hold them accountable.

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#4

Post by ttctciyf » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

Interesting discussion (IME) has been unavailable there for a while (though I admit I sometimes enjoy the trolling and putdowns, it's very much not what you're after I suspect.)

Where it shines is quick access to reporting within particular spheres, by following journalists and news junkies, or by searching items with links, within your topic of interest. Discovery of communities of interest by the obvious means also works reasonably well (again, IME).

Unquestionably almost all links to reporting are posted with some agenda, even if it's just the simple agenda of a news org trying to get readers, but as a source of fresh links to interesting stuff it's probably the premier resource, when used appropriately.

Occasionally, if you follow politics (or indeed app store drama) tweets are themselves news, but that is the exception in twitter interest as far as I'm concerned.

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#5

Post by pram » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 4:11 PM UTC

Why worry? If you’ve gone this long without it, you’re not missing out on anything.

Ignoring the potential utility Twitter can offer, the quality of “discussions” hasn’t improved one iota over the years. IMO no one could argue in good faith that the culture is better in 2021 than it was in 2011

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#6

Post by Igelau » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 4:13 PM UTC

Twitter confuses the hell out of me. Always has. The "thread" is very difficult for me to follow, so I never understood how anyone ever has discussions of any depth on it.

The other thing that really confuses me is the tribal aspect of it. I recently noticed a string of tweets/replies where a user of race A replied to user of race B (in agreement) and was rudely told by another of user of race A to get out of "our discussion". Which is really strange to me, since the primary use case seems to be aimed at having wide-open inclusive discussions, but there's a huge segment of the userbase that seems to treat it more like leaving the backdoor unlocked so they can shoot anyone who "breaks in".

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#7

Post by krapp » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 4:14 PM UTC

A platform with 100 million users isn't going to be entirely political and social commentary, nor is it the case that all political and social commentary is toxic. Twitter is a vast and diverse ecosystem with plenty of interesting people, conversations and content. The same is actually true for all of the big social media platforms, despite what HN contrarians would tell you.

Twitter gives you a lot of fine-grained tools for curating your feed and you have to use them.

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#8

Post by gaze » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 4:14 PM UTC

Math twitter is consistently happy and good. People just ask questions and answer them in a helpful way and post coffee selfies. Also, vintage hardware twitter is nice.

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#9

Post by brink » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 4:14 PM UTC

pram wrote: post #5

Why worry? If you’ve gone this long without it, you’re not missing out on anything. Ignoring the potential utility Twitter can offer, the quality of “discussions” hasn’t improved one iota over the years. IMO no one could argue in good faith that the culture is better in 2021 than it was in 2011

> IMO no one could argue in good faith that the culture is better in 2021 than it was in 2011

I wouldn't say "better". There's still just as much animosity. More like the division has shifted and those that say it's better no longer find themselves on the line.

Re: Ask HN: Is Twitter Dead for Interesting Discussion?

#10

Post by ineedasername » Sat, Aug 21, 2021, 4:15 PM UTC

I don't think it was ever a place for interesting discussions. It's not what it was made for, and attempts to shoe horn them in are always awkward with paged tweets of the /1 /2 /3 variety, and threaded conversations significantly more awkward.

Quick notes, maybe with a link to something deeper, brief comments on something... It's never been any good at much else. Even leaving aside toxicity and trolls, it's simply not build for discussion.