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.

he got “weirder” in recent years if you think weird is figuring out what people on socials are memeing about and generating more crap based on it

figured out shrek memes several years late

very much has an audience, but it’s funny how rote it all is

it's corporate art. it's something he can crank out and brands know what they're getting. the bbc arts critic favorably compared him to andy warhol, in that regard. i disagree. the difference is that there are a million beeples

but also, look at this and wonder about what the point is

https://i.imgur.com/r0QftJW.jpg

are there, though? I didn’t realize dude had sold concert visuals to a handful of music artists

the art and it’s message isn’t the medium, the reach is

why need a point when you get a paycheck

teal and orange, instantly appealing.

and divisions! and people who stand this way. of different sizes. all in a row. there is a hierarchy in this society, it is clear. and also a giant black orb with a circle on it

He’s fine? It looks like video game production work, but 35% less commercial.

that's true. it looks like a good bioshock level

Imagine if DC or Image had figured this shit out first, there would be a 90 million dollar spawn somewhere

honestly, give it 20 years, maybe you could fully inhabit these beeple creations as a videogame. it's already in a 3D space (either C4D or maya), with textures and 3D models and that shit. it's just a game that doesn't have any players. seems like it would be easy to hop into any of the characters in the one above and see what happens if you step out of line - with a flamethrower

i guess i did like this one, because it seemed to reveal something about them. i can't tell if the style of it is a parody of the kinds of paintings where jesus is helping a hockey player, or whatever, or not, but i guess that's good

https://i.imgur.com/CAgF3bl.png

since the blockchain is all about undoing the convenience and efficiency of already available technologies, perhaps they can add a sort of permanent damage tracked on a blockchain. So you can enter the 3D space and permanently torch it with a flamethrower. Or there could be random "acts of god" that destroy NFT art beyond repair.

Ask and ye shall receive

https://blog.chain.link/create-dynamic-nfts-using-chainlink-oracles/

Hey Panera, if you could take a break from making stale ass bread bowls for old white people and salt your sidewalk that’d be great. Almost cracked my skull coming in this morning.

— The Last Blockbuster (@loneblockbuster) February 18, 2021

nah

if you want to support my anti- NFT "art" mania, please like or retweet this:

Will you all be discussing hyperspeculation and how digital artists can accelerate it while also hopefully getting rich in the process?

— Zach_TBD (@weinventyou) March 17, 2021

there are a few very good artists on there, and people I've followed for a long time. they never gave a fuck about me, but i'm determined to register my discontent.

nothing is more annoying to me lately than the people who reply to Richard Nixon with "Sir". Give it up already.

Editor: You get those photos of Elliott Gould and Grover?
Photographer: Sure did boss, real fuckin sexy just like you asked.
Editor: what pic.twitter.com/WbXJavjufu

— Chris Thorburn (@CBThorburn) April 17, 2020

It’s too early to say what led to the fatal shooting of Adam Toledo by Chicago police, but it’s also too soon to make him a cause celebre. It's never too early to stop pretending that 13-year-olds are inherently harmless, Eric Zorn writes. https://t.co/3NJqssG396

— Chicago Tribune Opinion (@chitribopinions) April 6, 2021

Made my quarterly tweet to tell this columnist that I hope his dick falls off and that he has diarrhea forever (carefully not wishing or threatening death upon him) and got a 12-hour ban.

also I hope he dies a miserable, long death and that his family rejoices when he's gone

jesus fuck i can't even

i think that before you are allowed to print that column you should be required to read it aloud in its entirety to the child's family in a small locked room

tribune media is such a garbage fire

What happens to Tronc???

this is real!

"Word up!" It is I, the Gray Lady, with a "shoutout" to all my hip young friends. Just wanted you to know I've added new specialized feeds.

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 21, 2007

"so, micro-blogging then" is one of the innocuous phrases from ilx that pops into my head the most often. so innocent

Is there a way to get it to stop suggesting topics to me? I'm really not liking this new "feature".

i don’t know but believe me i’ve looked! i thought notifications were sacred!!

it's not just notifications, they are now putting random Tweets in the timeline that relate to topics they think I might be interested in. I tried dismissing the topics, but that has led them to suggest more and more irrelevant topics instead.

Yep, that has been my experience. Dismissing those suggested topics just sort of fires up some sort of, "welp, then I don't know what the fuck you like so I'm going to just throw everything at you" response.

I feel like if I dismiss enough of them they will eventually just run out of topics

I think if you mute the phrase " suggest_activity_tweet " and/or " suggest_recycled_tweet_inline " that helps to remove most of the trash notifications you are referring to.

niiiice

Excellent!

Is this illegal?

*deephacks Twitter to improve user experience*

I understand why Twitter wants to do this for new users, to help them bootstrap a good feed. But I don't understand why tech companies aren't treating newbies and power users differently. (I am a techie but my industry puzzles me often.)

twitter doesnt have the most precise parsing of that sort of thing eg constantly suggesting i follow politicians who i just told to eat shit

Make sure you're in the Latest Tweets sort and not the Top Tweets sort

I think if you mute the phrase " suggest_activity_tweet " and/or " suggest_recycled_tweet_inline " that helps to remove most of the trash notifications you are referring to.

― Judi Dench's Human Hand (methanietanner), Tuesday, April 13, 2021 9:48 AM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

btw i do this + use the "latest tweets" timeline and dont get most of the stuff people complain about itt, i do get some suggested topics but theyre in the timeline not as notifications

ha, yes, I prefer latest tweets, but of course it switches back to top tweets periodically without asking

galaxy brain touched on this today
https://warzel.substack.com/p/its-not-cancel-culture-its-a-platform

Some people spend a lifetime trying to craft tweets that troll in the way the space/horror tweet did so effectively

the context collapse thing is a good point, because my first thought is "who would actually get mad at this", but you know there's some nerd or filmmaker out there who is legit "I've spent my whole life fighting the belief that horror can't be set in space and I have HAD IT"

the internet is mostly made up of people who have HAD IT these days

it’s just an aggressively dumb take!

you can do a desert movie or a horror movie, but horror in the desert is just a desert genre imo

is Dune a desert movie or a space movie?

what if we were the aliens all along

xp yes

I think if you mute the phrase " suggest_activity_tweet " and/or " suggest_recycled_tweet_inline " that helps to remove most of the trash notifications you are referring to.

Just checked, I had these muted already but they're still putting garbage in there.

it helped with my notifications but there are still random topics in my feed

Hilariously twitter doesn't even seem to be able to catalogue these random topics right - I just got "suggested topic: rap" and the tweet was some lefty shitposter joking that Femi's article caused Starmer's approval ratings to drop. Not every black person is a rapper, twitter.