That’s why I loved TweetBot. No algorithm, just a chronological list of everything everyone I followed posted/retweeted.
And now I use Mastodon, because I can use Ivory, the Mastodon client by TapBits (the maker of TweetBot).
Of course you don’t have to use that app because Mastodon doesn’t have any algorithm. It’s just chronological. It’s great. There’s nothing stopping someone from making a client that has an algorithm. But the service isn’t trying to hide stuff from you and promote nonsense that someone paid for.
Also the "Following" tab is still there in the regular twitter client which gives you the "raw" timeline of just tweets from people you follow (except below conversation threads where twitter still insists to append random tweets at the end). Then the next step to a sane timeline is to hide retweets for selected people who tend to retweet a lot of noise ;)
The article mostly seems to be about "don't interact with idiots on the internet" though (well, no shit!), not about the broken recommendation algorithm.
What a jarring style! Is this a twitter thing?; No capitals and single spaced everything... Don't you have to go out of your way to do these days with auto formatting and all?
I've seen this style become "popular" and I have nothing but morbid fascination.
IMO one of the really cool effects of the internet is how much exploration there is of ways style, punctuation, and typographic choices can convey nuances of tone and mood that are not possible using a traditional style guide. Remembering especially that the real language is the spoken one and writing is just a set of conventions. This sort of thing gets us closer to the range of expressive choice we have when speaking.
It can definitely have a cost of readability if you're not familiar with it but this one is very well done and clear. The author makes really good typographic decisions in the paragraph breaks and section headings that provide plenty of structure and keep it from being disorienting.
So idk I am generally joyfully curious about this style and think this is a solid example of doing it in a way that enhances expression without sacrificing clarity.
> i think the most important skills you need to survive on a site like twitter are social awareness and an ability to control your reflexive outrage, cringe and disgust.
Well therein lies the problem, no? Reflexive outrage, cringe and disgust are some of the strongest ways to engage your audience. Any rational social media owner (particularly one that owns an unprofitable hellsite such as Twitter) is going to capitalize on that, because Twitter isn't and was never a charity. It's an advertisement platform that deliberately limits your expression to prevent you from taking the attention away from the ads.
So now we're on X, and everyone somehow thinks things will gently come back together again. Why? Do we not see the smoldering corpse that Jack Dorsey left for us, expecting a spirit to rise from the ashes and thank the most pious @users?
I never used Twitter, so eulogizing it has always struck me as an uncomfortably postmodern compulsion. From the outside looking in, Twitter was disproportionately popular and relied on FOMO generated from lifestyle influencers to draw in the majority of it's users. It had no clear path to profitability, also relied on baiting people with sensationalism for ad revenue, and ultimately suffers from the same critical flaw of fickle centralized control that damned Twitter originally.
“The algorithm is killing twitter” is a weak point.
Whether we like it or not, prior to Musk buying twitter, the old twitter was essentially burning capital and had less than six months of runaway money in the bank, essentially it was 6 months away from bankruptcy.
Contrary to what many people said, twitter is still alive and doing overall okay. Most people are still there, tweeting and doing stuff.
OP just liked the old unsustainable twitter.
Unironically, this person staying on twitter (despite twitter making them “go insane”) is literally what keeps twitter alive.
There’s no way to play this kind of games and win. OP should move to a different platform if the current state of twitter does not suit them.
Valuation is down 75%. Advertisers are fleeing. A lot of users left. A recent poll (I think there was a submission here on HN this morning said something like 42% of their current users actively dislike the platform.
And all of that is to say nothing about Musk’s politics, rule changes, his personal tweets being shown to non-followers, removing the ability to block users, third party apps, and other reasons people may not be happy.
Yeah Twitter was burning cash, but they were also overspending. The fact old Twitter was mismanaged isn’t evidence X is doing great.
That’s why I loved TweetBot. No algorithm, just a chronological list of everything everyone I followed posted/retweeted.
And now I use Mastodon, because I can use Ivory, the Mastodon client by TapBits (the maker of TweetBot).
Of course you don’t have to use that app because Mastodon doesn’t have any algorithm. It’s just chronological. It’s great. There’s nothing stopping someone from making a client that has an algorithm. But the service isn’t trying to hide stuff from you and promote nonsense that someone paid for.
The company is TapBots. I swear I fixed that typo, but I guess not. And I don’t want to misname them.
Also the "Following" tab is still there in the regular twitter client which gives you the "raw" timeline of just tweets from people you follow (except below conversation threads where twitter still insists to append random tweets at the end). Then the next step to a sane timeline is to hide retweets for selected people who tend to retweet a lot of noise ;)
The article mostly seems to be about "don't interact with idiots on the internet" though (well, no shit!), not about the broken recommendation algorithm.
What a jarring style! Is this a twitter thing?; No capitals and single spaced everything... Don't you have to go out of your way to do these days with auto formatting and all?
I've seen this style become "popular" and I have nothing but morbid fascination.
IMO one of the really cool effects of the internet is how much exploration there is of ways style, punctuation, and typographic choices can convey nuances of tone and mood that are not possible using a traditional style guide. Remembering especially that the real language is the spoken one and writing is just a set of conventions. This sort of thing gets us closer to the range of expressive choice we have when speaking.
It can definitely have a cost of readability if you're not familiar with it but this one is very well done and clear. The author makes really good typographic decisions in the paragraph breaks and section headings that provide plenty of structure and keep it from being disorienting.
So idk I am generally joyfully curious about this style and think this is a solid example of doing it in a way that enhances expression without sacrificing clarity.
This is a stream of consciousness from someone who needs to put down the computer, go outside and touch some grass. For real.
I think it conveyed its vibes to you quite well!
A good article, and one that I rather appreciated.
> i think the most important skills you need to survive on a site like twitter are social awareness and an ability to control your reflexive outrage, cringe and disgust.
Well therein lies the problem, no? Reflexive outrage, cringe and disgust are some of the strongest ways to engage your audience. Any rational social media owner (particularly one that owns an unprofitable hellsite such as Twitter) is going to capitalize on that, because Twitter isn't and was never a charity. It's an advertisement platform that deliberately limits your expression to prevent you from taking the attention away from the ads.
So now we're on X, and everyone somehow thinks things will gently come back together again. Why? Do we not see the smoldering corpse that Jack Dorsey left for us, expecting a spirit to rise from the ashes and thank the most pious @users?
I never used Twitter, so eulogizing it has always struck me as an uncomfortably postmodern compulsion. From the outside looking in, Twitter was disproportionately popular and relied on FOMO generated from lifestyle influencers to draw in the majority of it's users. It had no clear path to profitability, also relied on baiting people with sensationalism for ad revenue, and ultimately suffers from the same critical flaw of fickle centralized control that damned Twitter originally.
“The algorithm is killing twitter” is a weak point.
Whether we like it or not, prior to Musk buying twitter, the old twitter was essentially burning capital and had less than six months of runaway money in the bank, essentially it was 6 months away from bankruptcy.
Contrary to what many people said, twitter is still alive and doing overall okay. Most people are still there, tweeting and doing stuff.
OP just liked the old unsustainable twitter.
Unironically, this person staying on twitter (despite twitter making them “go insane”) is literally what keeps twitter alive.
There’s no way to play this kind of games and win. OP should move to a different platform if the current state of twitter does not suit them.
I worked at Twitter. This is not an accurate representation of their financials during that time.
Valuation is down 75%. Advertisers are fleeing. A lot of users left. A recent poll (I think there was a submission here on HN this morning said something like 42% of their current users actively dislike the platform.
And all of that is to say nothing about Musk’s politics, rule changes, his personal tweets being shown to non-followers, removing the ability to block users, third party apps, and other reasons people may not be happy.
Yeah Twitter was burning cash, but they were also overspending. The fact old Twitter was mismanaged isn’t evidence X is doing great.