Thoughts on Twitter

[FPLOON]

What has Twitter done for me:
Porn
Got a retweet from someone well-known on his side of Youtube
Made fun of hashtags... with hashtags...

What has Twitter not done for me:
Limited speech (140 characters) that's more negative that positive
Made me smarter/more aware of anything
FUCKING HASHTAGS OUTSIDE OF TWITTER

If Twitter were my date, I'm really don't think we would have a long-term future together... as friends...
However, I would never discourage it from trying to find someone else to date long-term... like Instagram or... uh... Vine? I got nothing...

 

[Evonisia]

The character limit (I imagine) would be very irritating, so I haven't bothered getting it thus far. Plus it has that same Facebook issue of quietly mocking you for not having as many followers or whatever as another.

The worst it has done is introduce people unironically using hashtags outside of Twitter. How am I supposed to find a YouTube "conversation" (exaggerating here) funny when half the comments are littered with #truefact #livin'it. I also think just piling all the hashtags together is silly which many seem to do.

 

[Ishal]

I adore Twitter. Absolutely love it for several reasons.

It's incredibly useful. I follow several Twitch streamers and podcasts on Twitter, and it lets me know when they're streaming or when a new episode is released almost instantly. Ditto for youtubers that make series' of lets plays. For a while youtube's sub box was completely broken and wouldn't notify me of new uploads, so I'd miss them when I was looking for something to watch.

It's fun to follow certain things like Food Porn or Emergency Kittens. It's also fun to follow certain personalities of media you like. But that can also be a problem. After reading all the toxic crap coming from MovieBob I unfollowed him. The 140 character limit really reduces the content that can be delivered. So it can tend to descend into...

1) "witty" comments about [insert issue]
2) Passive aggressive snark
3) Smug condescension
4) Poor attempts at comedy

So basically it's The Escapist forums.

Twitter offers a lot for how simple it is. You pretty much control your experience by who you choose to follow. The block feature and mute feature are great tools for cleaning up your feed. It's just what you make it. Twitter isn't a place for debate or civil discourse, it's just another thing that can, has, and will continue to be misused by several people. But from what I've experienced, it offers a better way to tune out the bullshit than almost anything else. I'm oblivious to nearly everything on Twitter if I choose to ignore hashtags. And if the site's changes got you down, there's always tweetdeck. I enjoy it a lot better than facebook, which lost it's appeal after I left university. I guess the way I can control what appears in my feed is really appealing.

See something you don't like? Block/ignore/mute

Spoiler

 

[seris]

i personally see twitter as a huge mess. so much drama happens because someone talked about another person on twitter, not to mention after i signed up i kept getting spammed with emails like "Today on twitter:..." until i blocked it. for now ill just stick to using Ello

 

[DaWaffledude]

It's like Vine. The restrictions encourage amusing, occasionally interesting works, but it's ultimately very shallow.

 

[Silence]

I have a recent example. My tweets were german, so this is the translation:
"I want to understand all political positions."
"Not writing someone off, just because he has different opinions."
"When I was 14 years old, I thought: "How can so many people vote CSU (the conservative party)? Is humanity that dumb?"
"The answer is: Most of the people who vote CDU aren't dumb. All have a reason to vote it."

Now guess what tweet got a favourite: The third one. If it is read alone it seems like I think all conservatives are dumb. The things I wrote before and after seemed not even to matter.


ARGH

 

[TheBlueRabbit]

As a comedian, I've found it a decent sounding board for new material, and to keep up with where some of my faves are performing. Sure, there's plenty of drama and bullshit on Twitter, but no more than anywhere else on the net. It's fairly easy to avoid if you're so inclined.