Twitter C/D

what's the point when you have FB status updates?

I'm an addict.

The status updates on facebook are one of my favourite aspects of FB, so I liked the idea of twitter when I first heard about it a week or so ago. I've signed up, but it hasn't stuck with me as yet, I think because none of my friends are using it.

It's reduced all my literary ambitions down to daily one-liners: twitter.com/fireland

So much hate for Twitter. So much.

Twitter is for productivity douche-bags and aspirational web developers.

I used to use Twitter quite a lot, but Facebook status updates reach a lot more of my friends, and I can do them from my phone as easily as a Twitter so I've kind of abandoned it.

I think Twitter is good for publishing interesting links and news and things, and for asking advice from the microblogosphere, but for the latter you'd need a whole load of like-minded followers and it's hard to get there.

I think I will have to use it for a while before I decide if I love it or hate it.

There was this thread, by the way:

twittervision

we've def. had a twitter thread before because i remember checking out the twitter homepage to see what the fuss was about, and i just happened to see alba make an update. then i told him about it here.

dats it

TWITTER: I don't get it

CIO/KIU: using ilx like twitter

I just spent another fifteen minutes going down the rabbit hole with this shit clicking on follower avatars
http://www.penny-arcade.com/images/2008/20080423.jpg
the text of the last panel could possibly be sold as a t-shirt

the weather alert stuff and airport delay announcement feeds seem vaguely useful but it remains the absolute dumbest shit I've ever seen since friendster

I mean what use is something that's supposed to provide low-bandwidth status updates on EVERY STUPID PIDDLING THING EVER IN THE WORLD if it also happens to be breaking constantly

identi.ca is ugly and has a terrible name, as with squoink and jaiku and whatever else, which just goes to show you what actually matters

http://www.soup.io/

IT'S THE NEW TEEVEE

let me make sure to get back here and write you guys some more about how I feel about the web's direction in a little bit

yeah I still think it is all weird and gross

"the microblogosphere"

http://www.the-trukstop.com/miscellaneous/socialmediacrity/warbbler.png

I use Twitter to keep up with a very small handful of friends (FreakyTrigger mob mostly) so mine is mostly a collection of stupid injokes that come to my mobile. I like that a lot, saves me having to text loads of people at once, but it freaks me out when I see random strangers following me. I have to purge my followers list about once a week.

I used to use Twitter quite a lot, but Facebook status updates reach a lot more of my friends, and I can do them from my phone as easily as a Twitter so I've kind of abandoned it

this is a shame, because your minute-by-minute update from "control" was fucking genius. for the few minutes it lasted.

you'd need a whole load of like-minded followers and it's hard to get there.
This is the key, really. Twitter got some ferocious use at wwdc, and was v. good for finding out what was giong on where, and what sessions to leave, etc, but it doesn't work so well if you've just trucked up in some random place.

There's a twitter client for iPhone that might help with that though -- it shows you all the updates from folks in your location.

this is a shame, because your minute-by-minute update from "control" was fucking genius. for the few minutes it lasted.

People were complaining!

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=1640#more-1640

as usual

the end of twitter in the UK? er: yes, as far as i can see. i don't want to have to *look* for tweets. i want them to come to me:

Hi,

I'm sending you this note because you registered a mobile device
to work with Twitter over our UK number. I wanted to let you
know that we are making some changes to the way SMS works on
Twitter. There is some good news and some bad news.

I'll start with the bad news. Beginning today, Twitter is no
longer delivering outbound SMS over our UK number. If you enjoy
receiving updates from Twitter via +44 762 480 1423, we are
recommending that you explore some suggested alternatives.

Note: You will still be able to UPDATE over our UK number.

Before I go into more detail, here's a bit of good news: Twitter
will be introducing several new, local SMS numbers in countries
throughout Europe in the coming weeks and months. These new
numbers will make Twittering more accessible for you if you've
been using SMS to send long-distance updates from outside the UK.

Why are we making these changes?

Mobile operators in most of the world charge users to send
updates. When you send one message to Twitter and we send it to
ten followers, you aren't charged ten times--that's because we've
been footing the bill. When we launched our free SMS service to
the world, we set the clock ticking. As the service grew in
popularity, so too would the price.

Our challenge during this window of time was to establish
relationships with mobile operators around the world such that
our SMS services could become sustainable from a cost perspective.
We achieved this goal in Canada, India, and the United States.
We can provide full incoming and outgoing SMS service without
passing along operator fees in these countries.

We took a risk hoping to bring more nations onboard and more
mobile operators around to our way of thinking but we've arrived
at a point where the responsible thing to do is slow our costs
and take a different approach. Since you probably don't live in
Canada, India, or the US, we recommend receiving your Twitter
updates via one of the following methods.

m.twitter.com works on browser-enabled phones
m.slandr.net works on browser-enabled phones
TwitterMail.com works on email-enabled phones
Cellity [http://bit.ly/12bw4R] works on java-enabled phones
TwitterBerry [http://bit.ly/MFAfJ] works on BlackBerry phones
Twitterific [http://bit.ly/1WxjwQ] works on iPhones

Twitter SMS by The Numbers

It pains us to take this measure. However, we need to avoid
placing undue burden on our company and our service. Even with a
limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter
about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada,
India, or the US. It makes more sense for us to establish fair
billing arrangements with mobile operators than it does to pass
these high fees on to our users.

Twitter will continue to negotiate with mobile operators in
Europe, Asia, China, and The Americas to forge relationships
that benefit all our users. Our goal is to provide full, two-way
service with Twitter via SMS to every nation in a way that is
sustainable from a cost perspective. Talks with mobile companies
around the world continue. In the meantime, more local numbers
for updating via SMS are on the way. We'll keep you posted.

Thank you for your attention,
Biz Stone, Co-founder
Twitter, Inc.
http://twitter.com/biz

I never understood why anyone would want tweets pushed to them. I get excited when I receive a text. I don't want to find it's some spazz like me telling the world they've found an odd-coloured bogey up their nose.

it would be nice, when the iphone's push service is switched on, if twitter would push messages down to twitterific - this would solve the 'excited when I receive a text only to find it's about a bogey' problem

If my phone had let me assign unique message alert tones to numbers like it does with ringtones and voice calls then the problem might have gone away.

Maybe the fundamental problem is that I'm not interested enough in other people.

most of twitter is exquisitely described in metaphor by that news story about the inflatable turd named "Complex Shit" blowing away and breaking actual stuff that matters

of course being me I would say the same for pretty much everything "web 2.0"

actually, i'd follow a tombot twitter feed. furious cynicism at unexpected moments could be fun.

i guess twitterific might step up to the plate here, but then again: it can't run in the background on the iPhone, can it?

(this, incidentally, is my first ILX post from my shiny new iMac.)

creepy

13.28
cozeny Wondering out loud what we'd need to start a UK group SMS system and take Twitter's market: Ruby developers, time, money, and Red Bull... ? 9 minutes ago from web

13.37
Hi, cozeny.

tweetsms (tweetsms) is now following your updates on Twitter.

Check out tweetsms's profile here:

http://twitter.com/tweetsms

You may follow tweetsms as well by clicking on the "follow" button.

Best,
Twitter

tweetsms
http://www.tweetSMS.com will be available worldwide across almost all carriers. We also plan to deploy an ad-based service for free updates.
38 minutes ago from web

@PurpleKitchen check out www.tweetsms.com about 2 hours ago from web in reply to PurpleKitchen

just uploaded http://www.tweetsms.com to help all of those international SMS users! about 2 hours ago from web

Used it cause I was excited (are you still an early adopter a full year after the SXSW explosion of use?), then didn't for a few months cause I didn't really see the point, now I'm usin it again cause I've had some new local friends start following me.

Good for questions, link-sharing, Microemo bursts, etc.

I have a friend who uses this to read his friends' feeds, so I basically only see it from the angle of a person who is constantly checking his phone while I'm trying to have a conversation with him. The first time I heard of Twitter was from him when I finally got exasperated with his constantly checking his phone.

Maybe I'm the one with the problem, but I can't really think of anyone in the world interesting enough for me to want updates on their activities throughout the day. I'd say the only people I could imagine wanting to twitter could be: Drug smuggler, violent prison inmate, Slash-in-his-heyday type rock star, and a dog (if they somehow managed to translate its thoughts into English text).

don't use it, don't know anyone who does, but i check this one all the time: http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix

i very very rarely check it on my phone. does mobile use seem to be the prominent use?

SMS functionality seems to be its USP now that Facebook status updates have taken the mainstream microblogging space.

As I said above, people using it for pushed news bulletins and question-broadcasting rather than personal what-i'm-doing stuff is another application.

(I think you can now do Facebook by SMS in America, actually, but not here)

SMS is a fucking trilobite technology

I followed @johncleese back when his followers were in the double digits.

Seriously someone FedEx me a fucking medal already.

how the fuck are they planning to make money? Also, they could easily have charged for this in Europe, and at least started making some actual income for a change.

so: brightkite, then. anyone played about with it much? i'm not sure i can particularly be arsed, TBH.

Twinkle is useful to see if there's trouble on my tram line or the local cafe is on fire.

ON IPHONE

Brightkite seems particularly marvelous, actually. Like Twitter with upgrades.

Guess who just got back today

Them wild-eyed boys that had been away

At least we'll finally be rid of that fucking "Eric Alper" bot. That alone makes it all worth it.

lol

maybe i can get a friend to text me the song line by line at 20 minute intervals for the rest of my life

Haven't changed, had much to say

but man, i still think them cats are crazy!

if the boys are really back in town they can afford to spread some cash around imo (pay the fees for repeat tweeting)

they can also pay for the africa by toto bot

Ugh going to miss this account too

Customer: NEVER FORGET
DMV: BENGAZI ATTACK

Verdict: DENIED pic.twitter.com/4ssmfCpKQQ

— ca-dmv-bot (@ca_dmv_bot) February 2, 2023

I know, that’s a classic.

Customer: NICK NAME
DMV: CONEJO=RABBIT BUT IS VULGAR SLANG FOR MEANING PUSSY OR CUNT

Verdict: ACCEPTED pic.twitter.com/ZbeevFPsh8

— ca-dmv-bot (@ca_dmv_bot) February 2, 2023

although this bot will stop running on the 9th, we can all take solace in the fact that the boys will always be back in town. i will miss this bot and all of you who have followed it over the years. 💗 https://t.co/gW42eLNaNQ

— the boys are back (@intownagain) February 2, 2023

I mean, she was steaming

Get your knickers down

no

if that lagoon quote doesn't make the buzzfeed article than we have nothing left

DMV bot's over on Mastodon...

ca_dmv_✧✧✧@bot✧✧✧.sp✧✧✧

(As are a lot of other bots natively, from what I can tell.)

Bah

ca_dmv_bot @ botsin.space

if that lagoon quote doesn't make the buzzfeed article than we have nothing left

― Karl Malone, Thursday, February 2, 2023 7:10 PM (twenty minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Good news!

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/twitter-bot-api-changes-killing-fun

Some bots are just pleasant and surprising additions to your timeline. [lag∞n] of Vermont runs @_restaurant_bot (random photos of restaurants from Google Maps), @_weather_bot_ (current weather conditions from randomized places around the world), @everygoodfella (screenshots of every second of the movie Goodfellas), and a few others. He also doesn’t plan on paying and is considering moving them all to Mastodon.

“It's over,” he told BuzzFeed News. “Bots are maybe the best part about Twitter! I follow a ton of them, they're cool and weird, and I will miss them. Fuck Elon, I never liked that guy.”

lagoon, of the Vermont lagoons

yessssssssss
lol

Elon Musk, hero of assholes

Just ~$100/month for API access with ID verification will clean things up greatly.

fuck elon i never liked that guy

good quote, for real lagoon. expresses something that is true that maybe some readers haven't thought of and has a funny ending

if i can do some small part of inspiring someone to fly a drone into elons head it will all be worthwhile

i volunteer as tribute

godspeed

did he…kill api because somebody told him he might be sexting a dude pic.twitter.com/LRUBjSgRH8

— kilgore trout, death to putiner (@KT_So_It_Goes) February 3, 2023

serious question to regular twitter posters: where is the tipping point for you where supporting team elon becomes more unpleasant than having this free service
― POLIZISTEN VERSINKEN IM SCHLAMM (forksclovetofu), Thursday, January 19, 2023

have you purged twitter from your soul forks are you truly cleansed

forks, have you tried tipping more?

I tipped out thanks

i have 3 or 4 bots posting generative art and the worst part of moving them to mastodon will be asking someone to approve 4 botsin.space accounts

(actually the twitter server that posts for me has been failing to do so 3 days out of ever 4 lately so this will improve things)

What

Twitter is reportedly emailing businesses offering gold check mark verification for $1000 PER MONTH!

And affiliate account verification for $50 each per month pic.twitter.com/hohTPKLKdi

— Matt Navarra (@MattNavarra) February 3, 2023

good luck twitter

i like the way they're elevating the voices of everyone with money

Even the bots who remain will be wealthy bots! It’s a fantastic vision

twitter's going to end up like that metaverse party where only crypto millionaires were invited

Around 2004 I remember getting great spam emails from a guy named Tweet Boosting, glad to see he's finally made it big.

Dr. Tweet BooSting, esq.

This is like that Facebook Gold jape.

Even the bots who remain will be wealthy bots! It’s a fantastic vision.

https://theinfosphere.org/images/8/82/Hedonism_Bot.jpg

it funny twitter thinks anyone is going to pay for any of this shit no one needs to be on there its for degenerates only its not a place of honor

they should just go straight to "for $10K a month you will get 10K guaranteed non bot views"

which will be performed by the hardcore twitter employees of course

Lag00n https://gist.github.com/shobotch/5160017

hmm

I'm not convinced that yanking the auth is sufficient to keep them from noticing it's not the twitter client, but running all the app requests through a proxy and investigating if they're doing any header/metadata tricks would make it harder to track imo

Also those are from 7 years ago

yeah they've been cycled since then (and some of those clients no longer exist), but the keys are out there. actual bots (as in spam bots) use the official creds. https://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/65647.html. if you want a bot you can have a bot.

that said, why bother at this point.

extremely true

excellent point. imagine Chinese spy balloon-gate with an actual fully functioning twitter

instead im getting bits and pieces and have to mostly rely on going to actual news websites (gasp)

what a disappointment https://t.co/PB2vKVDxIJ

— rat king 🐀 (@MikeIsaac) February 4, 2023