Comments on: Tweet Quality http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality Mac & Technology Writings by Daniel Jalkut Wed, 17 Mar 2010 22:33:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: jmontoya http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150322 jmontoya Fri, 01 May 2009 15:13:34 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150322 Nice post. Your idea that the arts, literature are refined through criticism is intriguing and I wondered whehter Twitter is a self immersion into the principle of "an object observed is changed by the observing". Nice post. Your idea that the arts, literature are refined through criticism is intriguing and I wondered whehter Twitter is a self immersion into the principle of “an object observed is changed by the observing”.

]]> By: John http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150271 John Fri, 24 Apr 2009 19:01:08 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150271 RT=FWD. Simple as that. RT=FWD. Simple as that.

]]> By: Mike Grace http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150241 Mike Grace Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:28:19 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150241 Thanks for the thought provoking article. It is sad that so much spamming and noise is making its way on to twitter. Thanks again for the reminder that I need to be a better twitizen. Thanks for the thought provoking article. It is sad that so much spamming and noise is making its way on to twitter. Thanks again for the reminder that I need to be a better twitizen.

]]> By: Paul McCann http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150190 Paul McCann Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:48:27 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150190 Err, David: did you actually read the message? If anything it was the last in a long series of laments, each emerging as one favourite medium after another becomes mainstream and suffers the corresponding influx of banalities and annoyances. Offhand there has been news (old-style news: think "rn" for those who remember Larry Wall's first great piece of software; ah the horror of the endless September...), email (remember the days before spam filters?), the web, twitter. Call it elitist/unsustainable/whatever, but each of these media have suffered devastating drops in quality as they have become ubiquitous. And yeah, I did spam all four of so of my twitter followers to get DL during the recent Macheist. I do regret doing so, but only because I did the idiotic thing and used my "real" account for the blast: the smarter thing would have been to create a new account for that purpose... Cheers, Paul Err, David: did you actually read the message? If anything it was the last in a long series of laments, each emerging as one favourite medium after another becomes mainstream and suffers the corresponding influx of banalities and annoyances. Offhand there has been news (old-style news: think “rn” for those who remember Larry Wall’s first great piece of software; ah the horror of the endless September…), email (remember the days before spam filters?), the web, twitter. Call it elitist/unsustainable/whatever, but each of these media have suffered devastating drops in quality as they have become ubiquitous.

And yeah, I did spam all four of so of my twitter followers to get DL during the recent Macheist. I do regret doing so, but only because I did the idiotic thing and used my “real” account for the blast: the smarter thing would have been to create a new account for that purpose…

Cheers,
Paul

]]> By: David http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150185 David Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:48:38 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150185 Wow this was like one huge "bitch" post. Wow this was like one huge “bitch” post.

]]> By: Guillaume Cohen http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150184 Guillaume Cohen Wed, 08 Apr 2009 00:28:39 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150184 Great post Daniel. But is "quality" really what most people want? This may be sad but people like gossip and arguments like the ones you sampled from twitter. Drama draws large audiences. Why? Because people like fights: it's exciting (at least to some) and more importantly because it's personal and emotional, which validates your other point "Add a Bit of Yourself". It is for the same reason reality TV shows get a larger audience than PBS documentaries although the quality of the content is questionable. So I would say that if growing a twitter audience is a goal, it is not always compatible with quality. This may explain the popularity of TechCrunch too. Great post Daniel. But is “quality” really what most people want? This may be sad but people like gossip and arguments like the ones you sampled from twitter. Drama draws large audiences. Why? Because people like fights: it’s exciting (at least to some) and more importantly because it’s personal and emotional, which validates your other point “Add a Bit of Yourself”. It is for the same reason reality TV shows get a larger audience than PBS documentaries although the quality of the content is questionable. So I would say that if growing a twitter audience is a goal, it is not always compatible with quality. This may explain the popularity of TechCrunch too.

]]> By: Leo M http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150171 Leo M Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:51:25 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150171 There's no difference between someone saying 'Please RT' and the MacHeist blast. They're both marketing instruments of the opt-in spamming that is twitter. 'RT' = re-spam There’s no difference between someone saying ‘Please RT’ and the MacHeist blast.

They’re both marketing instruments of the opt-in spamming that is twitter.

‘RT’ = re-spam

]]> By: kwokheng http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150170 kwokheng Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:33:11 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150170 Hi Daniel, I don't suppose Posterous does trackbacks (and I'm happy for it to be that way). But I referenced you here: http://originbear.posterous.com/on-twitter-3 and thought I should state so. cheers kwok Hi Daniel,

I don’t suppose Posterous does trackbacks (and I’m happy for it to be that way).

But I referenced you here: http://originbear.posterous.com/on-twitter-3 and thought I should state so.

cheers
kwok

]]> By: Tom Harrington http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150167 Tom Harrington Mon, 06 Apr 2009 03:59:08 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150167 I tend to agree with "Idea Assassin" about both the nature of the problem and the means to address it. Although it's true, as you note, that Twitter gives you more control over who you interact with than Usenet, it's also true that @replies from people you don't follow pierce this restriction. That leaves the door open to those who "are hell-bent on causing rifts that invite confrontational interchange" to show up in your Twitter stream, and requires a positive action on your part to block them. The only solution I know from Usenet is that trolls feed on attention, and the only way to stop them is to recognize them quickly and cut off that food supply. Blocking's not necessary-- they'll get bored with you and move on to someone who will take the bait. In your vignette, "Apple4Ever" is clearly being an asshole in his first message, and the defensive reply is just what such a troll is looking for. I tend to agree with “Idea Assassin” about both the nature of the problem and the means to address it. Although it’s true, as you note, that Twitter gives you more control over who you interact with than Usenet, it’s also true that @replies from people you don’t follow pierce this restriction. That leaves the door open to those who “are hell-bent on causing rifts that invite confrontational interchange” to show up in your Twitter stream, and requires a positive action on your part to block them.

The only solution I know from Usenet is that trolls feed on attention, and the only way to stop them is to recognize them quickly and cut off that food supply. Blocking’s not necessary– they’ll get bored with you and move on to someone who will take the bait. In your vignette, “Apple4Ever” is clearly being an asshole in his first message, and the defensive reply is just what such a troll is looking for.

]]> By: Victoria Wang http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/785/tweet-quality/comment-page-1#comment-150165 Victoria Wang Sun, 05 Apr 2009 22:29:33 +0000 http://www.red-sweater.com/blog/?p=785#comment-150165 Thanks for posting this. Twitter has been making me want to scream for all the reasons you've mentioned, but I don't think I could have put it as kindly (and usefully) as you have :). I'm tormented that the options are to hear everything someone has to blurt out, or to unfollow them -- almost all the people I follow are my friends and colleagues in real life. Unfollowing a friend, even if she is being intensely annoying on Twitter, feels awkward and painful. Anyways, I really need to just hack some snooze functionality into Pwitter. Thanks for posting this. Twitter has been making me want to scream for all the reasons you’ve mentioned, but I don’t think I could have put it as kindly (and usefully) as you have :). I’m tormented that the options are to hear everything someone has to blurt out, or to unfollow them — almost all the people I follow are my friends and colleagues in real life. Unfollowing a friend, even if she is being intensely annoying on Twitter, feels awkward and painful. Anyways, I really need to just hack some snooze functionality into Pwitter.

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