[Technology] Elon Musk and Twitter

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Heart and Soul

Active member
Jul 7, 2023
136
What a load of rubbish.

I use Twitter very little, and have never posted anything (I think) but for what it's good at, it's the best at.
What is it good at? The whole thing was created because a huge sentiment of the population found anything above 280 characters too intellectually challenging to deal with.
 




schmunk

"Members"
Jan 19, 2018
9,549
Mid mid mid Sussex
What is it good at? The whole thing was created because a huge sentiment of the population found anything above 280 characters too intellectually challenging to deal with.
It's great for reportage - take a look at the Russia invades Ukraine thread and the various "Twitter" threads linked there. Is there any other website / app / whatever which would give a better platform for this fast-moving, frequently updated messaging?

It's the best place for 'breaking' news. Wonder why there's a helicopter hovering overhead? Twitter is the place to go to find out.

It's also really good for snippets of entertainment, e.g. Fesshole, No Context Brits, anon_opin, Jonathan Pie, shirts that go hard... ...to name some that I have followed (plus Brighton & Hove Albion, of course...!)
 




Heart and Soul

Active member
Jul 7, 2023
136
It's great for reportage - take a look at the Russia invades Ukraine thread and the various "Twitter" threads linked there. Is there any other website / app / whatever which would give a better platform for this fast-moving, frequently updated messaging?

Linked, it's the best place for 'breaking' news. Wonder why there's a helicopter hovering overhead? Twitter is the place to go to find out.

It's also really good for snippets of entertainment, e.g. Fesshole, No Context Brits, anon_opin, Jonathan Pie, shirts that go hard... ...to name some that I have followed (plus Brighton & Hove Albion, of course...!)
There's plenty of information on everything Ukraine/Russia for those who are able to read longer, in-depth articles.
If you need to know why there is a helicopter hovering over you, local Facebook groups are equally good. But of course, sometimes people use 300 or more characters to describe what is happening, which is apparently a bit too much today. Brain turns off around the third sentence, I guess.
You can find equally good entertainment elsewhere. Maybe not as easy to digest, but at least equally funny.
 


schmunk

"Members"
Jan 19, 2018
9,549
Mid mid mid Sussex
There's plenty of information on everything Ukraine/Russia for those who are able to read longer, in-depth articles.
If you need to know why there is a helicopter hovering over you, local Facebook groups are equally good. But of course, sometimes people use 300 or more characters to describe what is happening, which is apparently a bit too much today. Brain turns off around the third sentence, I guess.
You can find equally good entertainment elsewhere. Maybe not as easy to digest, but at least equally funny.
1) It's not about 'able to' - much of this information is simply short, immediate updates which don't require thousands of words of waffle, and indeed, some of us don't have the luxury of time to trawl through such articles.

2) Facebook can be fairly goof for this, but is often dreadful - for example, every time you go into the app it defaults back to "most relevant" results, rather than "most recent". :facepalm: Facebook posts tend to be even briefer than Twitter, in my experience. In any case, how many paragraphs do you need to write "they're searching for a missing person", or such...?

3) Great, go for it. Don't hurry back.

I appreciate you're trying to be aloofly superior with your disdain for Twitter, but in reality you're coming across as arrogantly uninformed.
 




pb21

Well-known member
Apr 23, 2010
6,347
I think twitter is very useful.

Certainly you can get more detail and analysis in long form articles or books, but as a starting point it's excellent. As for the entertainment, I regularly see posts that make me laugh/smile, but entertainment is subjective, you obviously aren't getting something like an evening at Glyndebourne.

Just avoid all the toxicity.
 




Greg Bobkin

Silver Seagull
May 22, 2012
14,994
The reactions to what Elon Musk is doing are more dystopian than the actions himself. If you get upset with Twitter changing name or logo or log-in requirements, you have clearly used Twitter too much.
It has been trash since day one, used by trash people wanting to be mean to other trash people. Little says as much about someone as "I use Twitter".
You sure about that?
 




Deportivo Seagull

I should coco
Jul 22, 2003
4,921
Mid Sussex
The reactions to what Elon Musk is doing are more dystopian than the actions himself. If you get upset with Twitter changing name or logo or log-in requirements, you have clearly used Twitter too much.
It has been trash since day one, used by trash people wanting to be mean to other trash people. Little says as much about someone as "I use Twitter".
So … you use twitter then … as that is basically the sort of thing people put on twitter.
 


Heart and Soul

Active member
Jul 7, 2023
136
1) It's not about 'able to' - much of this information is simply short, immediate updates which don't require thousands of words of waffle, and indeed, some of us don't have the luxury of time to trawl through such articles.

2) Facebook can be fairly goof for this, but is often dreadful - for example, every time you go into the app it defaults back to "most relevant" results, rather than "most recent". :facepalm: Facebook posts tend to be even briefer than Twitter, in my experience. In any case, how many paragraphs do you need to write "they're searching for a missing person", or such...?

3) Great, go for it. Don't hurry back.

I appreciate you're trying to be aloofly superior with your disdain for Twitter, but in reality you're coming across as arrogantly uninformed.
1. What value do you get as an individual or us as an society from getting immediate updates rather than properly fact-checked versions of such events an hour or two later? And is it really that time saving considering how much people spend on social media in general?
2. Sure, Facebook algorithms suck now but that wasn't the case when Twitter came.

Maybe I'm trying to be "aloofly superior". Or maybe I just see through these attempts to defend whatever they are addicted to. If you ask people addicted to cannabis about whether it is good or not, they will start telling you about all the diseases it cures and so forth, and if you ask someone addicted to a video game they are going to tell you they do it because "they like it" despite all evidence showing that too much is too much.
Same goes for Twitter. In reality, it is a type of social media where the fast pace and desire to keep arguments short just turn it into a place where people bully each other and throw harsh words and strange rumours around, pretty much cornering people into taking sides on every single subject, which creates this awful burning hole between people. Twitter is one of the main locomotives when it comes to splitting our societies apart.

You can say it is "entertaining", "quick" or whatever, but is it really worth it? Personally I don't doubt for a second that society would be slightly better off without it.
 


beorhthelm

A. Virgo, Football Genius
Jul 21, 2003
35,348
1. What value do you get as an individual or us as an society from getting immediate updates rather than properly fact-checked versions of such events an hour or two later? And is it really that time saving considering how much people spend on social media in general?
if your life isn't enriched by content such as this, i feel sorry for you.

 




Stat Brother

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 11, 2003
73,870
West west west Sussex
1. What value do you get as an individual or us as an society from getting immediate updates rather than properly fact-checked versions of such events an hour or two later? And is it really that time saving considering how much people spend on social media in general?
2. Sure, Facebook algorithms suck now but that wasn't the case when Twitter came.

Maybe I'm trying to be "aloofly superior". Or maybe I just see through these attempts to defend whatever they are addicted to. If you ask people addicted to cannabis about whether it is good or not, they will start telling you about all the diseases it cures and so forth, and if you ask someone addicted to a video game they are going to tell you they do it because "they like it" despite all evidence showing that too much is too much.
Same goes for Twitter. In reality, it is a type of social media where the fast pace and desire to keep arguments short just turn it into a place where people bully each other and throw harsh words and strange rumours around, pretty much cornering people into taking sides on every single subject, which creates this awful burning hole between people. Twitter is one of the main locomotives when it comes to splitting our societies apart.

You can say it is "entertaining", "quick" or whatever, but is it really worth it? Personally I don't doubt for a second that society would be slightly better off without it.
3 words.

World

Bollard

Association.



As an aside a few months ago Richard Herring interviewed Mr Fesshole - well.worth a listen.
 


Greg Bobkin

Silver Seagull
May 22, 2012
14,994
1. What value do you get as an individual or us as an society from getting immediate updates rather than properly fact-checked versions of such events an hour or two later? And is it really that time saving considering how much people spend on social media in general?
2. Sure, Facebook algorithms suck now but that wasn't the case when Twitter came.

Maybe I'm trying to be "aloofly superior". Or maybe I just see through these attempts to defend whatever they are addicted to. If you ask people addicted to cannabis about whether it is good or not, they will start telling you about all the diseases it cures and so forth, and if you ask someone addicted to a video game they are going to tell you they do it because "they like it" despite all evidence showing that too much is too much.
Same goes for Twitter. In reality, it is a type of social media where the fast pace and desire to keep arguments short just turn it into a place where people bully each other and throw harsh words and strange rumours around, pretty much cornering people into taking sides on every single subject, which creates this awful burning hole between people. Twitter is one of the main locomotives when it comes to splitting our societies apart.

You can say it is "entertaining", "quick" or whatever, but is it really worth it? Personally I don't doubt for a second that society would be slightly better off without it.
Worth what? It's free (unless you pay for a white tick)!

I don't see the problem with people who want to use it for whatever they choose to. Live and let live, FFS!
 


Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Patron
Jul 23, 2003
34,370
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
What is it good at? The whole thing was created because a huge sentiment of the population found anything above 280 characters too intellectually challenging to deal with.
:facepalm:

That was the whole point. Be witty and informative within a constraint. It’s why so many early adopters were comedians and writers.

Unfortunately it’s now been ruined by the broflakes.
 






A1X

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 1, 2017
18,042
Deepest, darkest Sussex
The reactions to what Elon Musk is doing are more dystopian than the actions himself. If you get upset with Twitter changing name or logo or log-in requirements, you have clearly used Twitter too much.
It has been trash since day one, used by trash people wanting to be mean to other trash people. Little says as much about someone as "I use Twitter".
IMG_0137.jpeg
 




Greg Bobkin

Silver Seagull
May 22, 2012
14,994
What is it good at? The whole thing was created because a huge sentiment of the population found anything above 280 characters too intellectually challenging to deal with.
Wrong.

It was originally 140 characters.
 




Perry's Tracksuit Bottoms

King of Sussex
Oct 3, 2003
1,391
Lost
1. What value do you get as an individual or us as an society from getting immediate updates rather than properly fact-checked versions of such events an hour or two later? And is it really that time saving considering how much people spend on social media in general?
2. Sure, Facebook algorithms suck now but that wasn't the case when Twitter came.

Maybe I'm trying to be "aloofly superior". Or maybe I just see through these attempts to defend whatever they are addicted to. If you ask people addicted to cannabis about whether it is good or not, they will start telling you about all the diseases it cures and so forth, and if you ask someone addicted to a video game they are going to tell you they do it because "they like it" despite all evidence showing that too much is too much.
Same goes for Twitter. In reality, it is a type of social media where the fast pace and desire to keep arguments short just turn it into a place where people bully each other and throw harsh words and strange rumours around, pretty much cornering people into taking sides on every single subject, which creates this awful burning hole between people. Twitter is one of the main locomotives when it comes to splitting our societies apart.

You can say it is "entertaining", "quick" or whatever, but is it really worth it? Personally I don't doubt for a second that society would be slightly better off without it.
Luckily you are posting this on North Stand Chat, where noone has ever been bullied, no harsh words are ever spoken, people rarely take sides and there are never, ever any strange rumours.
 


Klaas

I've changed this
Nov 1, 2017
2,569
Luckily you are posting this on North Stand Chat, where noone has ever been bullied, no harsh words are ever spoken, people rarely take sides and there are never, ever any strange rumours.
It's pathetic isn't it? Like raging at paper and pens, or the printing press!
 


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