Comments on: Twitter Loses Control Of Twitter http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/ Understanding the accumulation of data Sat, 11 Feb 2012 20:58:00 -0500 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Kevin http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-14033 Kevin Sun, 17 May 2009 08:39:00 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-14033 Some historical perspective -- an email from @biz circa 5/31/07:<br><br>We noticed a whole bunch of Twitter-ers adopting a new way to<br>communicate specifically to individuals in a public way by adding<br>an @ symbol before a username like this: "@biz thinking I'll get a<br>soy latte too!" To make this experience a bit better, we added a<br>few features to support this behavior.<br><br>- The Replies Tab will display an archive of @replies<br>- @Replies are followed by an 'in reply to' link for context<br>- @username automatically links the username to the profile Some historical perspective — an email from @biz circa 5/31/07:

We noticed a whole bunch of Twitter-ers adopting a new way to
communicate specifically to individuals in a public way by adding
an @ symbol before a username like this: “@biz thinking I'll get a
soy latte too!” To make this experience a bit better, we added a
few features to support this behavior.

- The Replies Tab will display an archive of @replies
- @Replies are followed by an 'in reply to' link for context
- @username automatically links the username to the profile

]]> By: Kevin http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13320 Kevin Sun, 17 May 2009 04:39:00 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13320 Some historical perspective -- an email from @biz circa 5/31/07:<br><br>We noticed a whole bunch of Twitter-ers adopting a new way to<br>communicate specifically to individuals in a public way by adding<br>an @ symbol before a username like this: "@biz thinking I'll get a<br>soy latte too!" To make this experience a bit better, we added a<br>few features to support this behavior.<br><br>- The Replies Tab will display an archive of @replies<br>- @Replies are followed by an 'in reply to' link for context<br>- @username automatically links the username to the profile Some historical perspective — an email from @biz circa 5/31/07:

We noticed a whole bunch of Twitter-ers adopting a new way to
communicate specifically to individuals in a public way by adding
an @ symbol before a username like this: “@biz thinking I'll get a
soy latte too!” To make this experience a bit better, we added a
few features to support this behavior.

- The Replies Tab will display an archive of @replies
- @Replies are followed by an 'in reply to' link for context
- @username automatically links the username to the profile

]]> By: the storage anarchist http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13315 the storage anarchist Thu, 14 May 2009 17:15:23 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13315 I suspect that the removal wasn't related to anything special with @replies, but instead @replies are something that Twitter can simply and efficiently filter out of the All Friends feeds so as to reduce the compute/IO overhead of supplying these streams. <br><br>Given their obvisouly unpredicted and accellerating growth, their engineers probably recommended this simply to buy themselve back some compute cycles before the whole thing came crashing down! I suspect that the removal wasn't related to anything special with @replies, but instead @replies are something that Twitter can simply and efficiently filter out of the All Friends feeds so as to reduce the compute/IO overhead of supplying these streams.

Given their obvisouly unpredicted and accellerating growth, their engineers probably recommended this simply to buy themselve back some compute cycles before the whole thing came crashing down!

]]> By: the storage anarchist http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13316 the storage anarchist Thu, 14 May 2009 17:15:23 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13316 I suspect that the removal wasn't related to anything special with @replies, but instead @replies are something that Twitter can simply and efficiently filter out of the All Friends feeds so as to reduce the compute/IO overhead of supplying these streams. <br><br>Given their obvisouly unpredicted and accellerating growth, their engineers probably recommended this simply to buy themselve back some compute cycles before the whole thing came crashing down! I suspect that the removal wasn't related to anything special with @replies, but instead @replies are something that Twitter can simply and efficiently filter out of the All Friends feeds so as to reduce the compute/IO overhead of supplying these streams.

Given their obvisouly unpredicted and accellerating growth, their engineers probably recommended this simply to buy themselve back some compute cycles before the whole thing came crashing down!

]]> By: Daniel Schildt http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13314 Daniel Schildt Wed, 13 May 2009 22:29:44 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13314 Thanks for balanced and informative blog post. Thanks for balanced and informative blog post.

]]> By: Barbara J. Hart http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13313 Barbara J. Hart Wed, 13 May 2009 22:04:45 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13313 In Maine, we had a recent conversation on Twitter regarding the definition of Geeks and Nerds. I am definitely neither. It was decided that people like me are on Twitter to make the geeks and nerds laugh. I am on Twitter for business, professional development, communication and engagement. Your description of the problem with @reply and the problem created with the fix was clear and concise. I agree with your conclusion. Whatever the developers intended, Twitter is about engaging. While it can be an effective 140 character soapbox, it is also an effective venue for conversations of made up of 140 character comments. In Maine, we had a recent conversation on Twitter regarding the definition of Geeks and Nerds. I am definitely neither. It was decided that people like me are on Twitter to make the geeks and nerds laugh. I am on Twitter for business, professional development, communication and engagement. Your description of the problem with @reply and the problem created with the fix was clear and concise. I agree with your conclusion. Whatever the developers intended, Twitter is about engaging. While it can be an effective 140 character soapbox, it is also an effective venue for conversations of made up of 140 character comments.

]]> By: sfoskett http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13311 sfoskett Wed, 13 May 2009 21:48:43 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13311 In fact, IRC is how I described Twitter to a friend recently. It's like IRC 3.0 or something. But I just never saw it as all that like a blog. It's definitely more conversational than that, at least in the eyes of the end users! In fact, IRC is how I described Twitter to a friend recently. It's like IRC 3.0 or something. But I just never saw it as all that like a blog. It's definitely more conversational than that, at least in the eyes of the end users!

]]> By: sfoskett http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13312 sfoskett Wed, 13 May 2009 21:48:43 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13312 In fact, IRC is how I described Twitter to a friend recently. It's like IRC 3.0 or something. But I just never saw it as all that like a blog. It's definitely more conversational than that, at least in the eyes of the end users! In fact, IRC is how I described Twitter to a friend recently. It's like IRC 3.0 or something. But I just never saw it as all that like a blog. It's definitely more conversational than that, at least in the eyes of the end users!

]]> By: sfoskett http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13310 sfoskett Wed, 13 May 2009 21:47:27 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13310 Indeed, Joe! Wasn't open communication through blogging supposed to stop this sort of backlash from happening in the first place? Indeed, Joe! Wasn't open communication through blogging supposed to stop this sort of backlash from happening in the first place?

]]> By: Sofie Dittmann http://blog.fosketts.net/2009/05/13/twitter-loses-control-twitter/comment-page-1/#comment-13308 Sofie Dittmann Wed, 13 May 2009 21:15:32 +0000 http://blog.fosketts.net/?p=1857#comment-13308 I didn't even notice. :) The main reason Twitter tends to irk me is stuff like DM not working in IE7/8 (you get a file download prompt instead of it performing the way you expect it), the fact that some of the long-known holes in the system continue to be exploited for spam (the famous follow-unfollow DM phenomenon) etc., and the fact that even though Twitter supposedly has a support staff, if they are actually showing up for work, none of see it. Because they don't respond to ANYTHING.<br><br>I realize this is a free system. I also realize it's overloaded. I've lost tweets over that more than once, and the API connections to the likes of <a href="http://facebook.com" rel="nofollow">facebook.com</a> are, at best, spotty. Which is too bad, b/c that's where the real beauty of social networking lies: to be able to connect that stuff to each other.<br><br>I guess nobody at Twitter realized they were creating a monster, and just like Frankenstein they are now standing in front of the creature that's broken loose, trying to figure out what to do next. Addressing this @reply "issue" was definitely not the right move. And if they are counting on being bought up by somebody else, they need to seriously clean house first and get some of their real performance problems under control.<br><br>Anyway, thanks for sharing that one!<br><br>Sofie I didn't even notice. :) The main reason Twitter tends to irk me is stuff like DM not working in IE7/8 (you get a file download prompt instead of it performing the way you expect it), the fact that some of the long-known holes in the system continue to be exploited for spam (the famous follow-unfollow DM phenomenon) etc., and the fact that even though Twitter supposedly has a support staff, if they are actually showing up for work, none of see it. Because they don't respond to ANYTHING.

I realize this is a free system. I also realize it's overloaded. I've lost tweets over that more than once, and the API connections to the likes of facebook.com are, at best, spotty. Which is too bad, b/c that's where the real beauty of social networking lies: to be able to connect that stuff to each other.

I guess nobody at Twitter realized they were creating a monster, and just like Frankenstein they are now standing in front of the creature that's broken loose, trying to figure out what to do next. Addressing this @reply “issue” was definitely not the right move. And if they are counting on being bought up by somebody else, they need to seriously clean house first and get some of their real performance problems under control.

Anyway, thanks for sharing that one!

Sofie

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