Twitter has many strengths, one of which is the ability to watch and participate in conversations on current events live, whether you know the other people or not. The way it does that is with topics preceded by a hash-tag. Say I’m one of the two or three people interested in today’s Grand Final, I can comment as it goes and end my tweets with #grandfinal, so anyone wanting to know what people are saying about the Grand Final at that moment will find my incisive condemnation of that stupid umpire/the thugs on the other side/my team pissfarting around with the ball at the wrong end*, right there.
The problem with this is that if you’re following a number of people interested in the same event (with the party animals I follow it’s more likely to be question time, #qt, but the point’s the same) then your twitter feed will be drowned out with those topics when the event’s taking place.
My suggestion is this: Twitter – or one of the many Twitter clients, at least – should implement a means of selecting a particular topic and NOT receiving those tweets, until you choose to re-enable them. That would mean you could keep GO HARLEY in touch without SEND HIM OFF being interrupted every RIEWOLDT SUCKS few moments by WHAT THE HELL IS THOMPSON DOING random crap duplicated DOES THOMPSON HAVE A PLAN OR WHAT a dozen times.
So, you know. Some enterprising person with technical skills should do that.
*This might not happen with the teams playing today; I barrack for Melbourne. Melbourne supporters are reduced to taking pleasure in the fact that our team managed to field a complete set of players in every match this year and even kick a few goals. We’re easy to please.
NOTE: “Twitter is stupid”, “I don’t get Twitter”, “What’s the point?” comments are off-topic and will be deleted on the basis that they’re a waste of everyone’s time. Like Twitter.
Twitter is stupid
I don’t get Twitter
What’s the point?
you can follow my abuse of twitter with the hash-tag #wasteoftime
twitter: because SMS is too time consuming.
twitter: because i care what ashton kutcher is doing right now.
twitter: because facebook* didn’t already give me too much information about people i barely know.
twitter: because all the greatest speeches were 140 characters, or less.
* i also think facebook is a waste of time, but this post is about twitter!
So Twitter is a participation sport ,whereas Jeremy actually not playing for Melbourne is!? Using Twitter!? Whereas today because of high winds here ,smoke from around the treed mini-mountains of twin place name Dundurrabin,and with dirt dust blowing in..it really is a day for sex.or ice skating or escaping generally.Twitter seems like an endless serious of statements dope bores of the Cannabis type would indulge in,well and truly stoned out of their heads reaching into their mullet hair cuts!?Pass me the roach,Man! next Twitter ..Sure,Man. Next Twitter ……
@philip travers: even twitter makes more sense than that comment! #wasteoftime
What’s the difference between your followers and those following you?
And why do you protect your tweets? Are they endangered?
Because they’re not intended to be widely published. I’m communicating with friends, not the internet at large.
well yeah, go to twitterfall.com and you can do just that, if I understand you right Jeremy.
bottom left under ‘exclusions’.