Twitter is evolving
At the beginning of the first lockdown, I wrote about Twitter becoming interesting again. 13 months later, it is still the social media platform I scroll through most.
A blessing and a curse.
Social media can be a wonderful way to discover new ideas, communicate with interesting people and share your thoughts with the world.
Or it can be a place which lacks nuance, fosters anger, invades your privacy and exposes us to an invasive form of marketing.
Like the world we live in, there are positives and negatives. You have a choice. You decide how you want to spend your time.
I do like my little corner of Twitter with its jokes and poems and puns and art. Sometimes I glance over the fence at the shouting and fighting and nastiness but then I turn back to tend my garden, hoping to raise a smile.
— Ian McMillan (@IMcMillan) July 26, 2020
Out of all the social media platforms, Twitter seem to be trying the hardest to do something about the negatives of social media… here’s why:
1) Chronological timeline
Unlike other social media platforms, Twitter makes it easy for you to opt for a chronological timeline. This gives you more control. Unlike the Facebook owned platforms, it means no algorithm deciding what you see or tempting you to stay longer.
2) Tackling harmful language
Twitter are rolling out a feature that it hopes will limit hostile behaviour. If they detect a potentially "harmful or offensive reply" a warning will appear. A small step, but their tests show that the prompt caused 34% of people to revise or cancel their reply.
3) Tackling misleading information
Warnings are shown if you retweet something that has been labelled for potentially misleading information. Twitter aren't stopping you retweeting - you have freedom of speech. It's just checking that you are sure.
A pause can often be enough to make you reconsider; to be more nuanced and less outraged.
4) Read before you tweet
When you share a link, a prompt appears when Twitter thinks you haven't clicked and read the link.
It’s a good reminder not to blindly share anything because you like the sentiment of the tweet or an attention garbing headline. If you decide to share something, it helps to make sure you fully understand what you are sharing and its potential implications.
5) Images
As an enthusiastic photographer this is a very welcome update. Twitter no longer crops images. Previously, Twitter cropped images to 16 x 9. Now you can see images in all their glory.
6) Web 3.0 will be decentralised
7) However…
Dear Twitter
Just because other special media platforms rise out of nowhere, there's no need to introduce new features to compete. Please don't over-complicate your core offering.
Each social media platform started out by being good at one thing. Instagram for photos, Twitter for sharing short snippets of information, Facebook for keeping in touch with friends and family. As each has grown and investors get more hungry for a return, new features are introduced to maximise profits. Some are welcome, some are not.
So be careful Twitter. Just because Instagram Stories are popular you don't need to imitate it with Fleets. I've never used it. Never will. Just because Clubhouse is popular, you don't need to imitate it with Spaces.
But buying Revue kind of makes sense.
Onward
Andrew
