Scripting News - Latest Comments in What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

Re: What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

interstar — Tue, 05 May 2009 05:50:10 -0000

I got this *without* explicitly signing up to their suggestions (or they were pre-checked or something) when I created a new account a couple of weeks ago.

It's dire. Sad, sad, sad.

Re: What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

tojosan — Mon, 04 May 2009 08:25:51 -0000

I agree about the problem with follow x users and the problem with following celebs. Likely to get several accounts that are either spammers or not engaged.

Perhaps better would be to recommend folks that have good follow/follower balance, a certain ration of straight posts to @ posts and below a certain ratio of link sharing.

Re: What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

dave — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:29:23 -0000

You're probably right -- it's best not to jump to conclusions.

Re: What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

Marshall Kirkpatrick — Fri, 01 May 2009 18:22:49 -0000

Dave, looking more at @AdventureGirl, I wonder - is she really a spam bot or just a person that we look at and consider toxic? I'm not actually seeing much in the way of affiliate links there. I mean, her profile page looks like a train wreck to me - but so does most of cable TV and lots of people like that. Maybe I haven't looked close enough though and she really is a robotic spam bot and not just a vapid spam bot.

Re: What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

.LAG — Fri, 01 May 2009 17:49:19 -0000

I don't get it: @adventuregirl, which is clearly a spam account, is a "suggested user" now? the other ones are well-known celebrities or media figures, but based on your first screenshot, they're not actively engaged, at least not as much as "adventuregirl." ...what a shame. That said, I can't remember what I saw when I first logged on, back in May 2007.

Re: What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

John E. Bredehoft (Empoprises) — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:16:19 -0000

In essence it illustrates the main problem with any "follow x users" approach. No matter which x users you choose, some users are going to be much more active than other users. Pity the poor person who got excited about seeing Mandy Moore and Ashley Tisdale tweets - they're drowned out by all the other stuff in the feed.

Of course, things are subject to change depending upon the time you look at the feed. If you check on Saturday, at least all the #followfriday stuff wouldn't be there.

Re: What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

Rex Hammock — Fri, 01 May 2009 16:08:00 -0000

No wonder people don't get Twitter.

Re: What a first-time Twitter user sees (Scripting News)

atul — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:53:30 -0000

Reminds me of Cable television. It looks like a 140 character version of cable tv. Lots of channels to surf but nothing worth watching (with the exception of @google tweet maybe)