Twitter

Saying Goodbye to Tweet Marker →

May 17, 2019 · 12:36

Manton Reece:

Tweet Marker’s time has come and gone. I’ve notified developers using the Tweet Marker API that I plan to wind down the service by July 1st. I’ve also cancelled all the paid subscriptions. (Actually I haven’t billed anyone in over 6 months, so I’ve been running the service for free.)

Over a million people have used Tweet Marker. I’m proud of that. If you’re one of those people, especially if you supported Tweet Marker as a developer or with a subscription, thank you.

There was a short time when I did indeed use Tweet Marker, when I was juggling between an iOS and Android smartphone, but that didn’t last long. And I never did understand why Twitter itself did not choose to implement a timeline syncing feature — this is probably their largest technical fuck up.

Twitter vs. Reddit

February 20, 2019 · 09:34

Every day, in the morning, while drinking a tea, coffee, or Red Bull, I’d first launch Twitter and catch up on events. For the past two weeks, more or less unconsciously, I have been slowly transitioning to Reddit.

I think the problem is the people I follow — they’re just posting less. Perhaps I could change things up by following new people but Reddit is partly superior in this regard — I can just follow topics that interest me instead. This naturally leads to more disconnect with specific people but there’s so much more variety and content.

I can’t hide the fact that I’m extremely disappointed with how Twitter itself is being run and I’m sure these feelings influence my usage but it’s refreshing to know I have found an alternative of sorts, especially since Twitter will die for me the day they pull the plug on third-party clients, such as Tweetbot and Twitterrific.

Twitterrific Ad Network →

January 23, 2019 · 19:20

Ged Maheux, for The Iconfactory:

When it comes to online advertising, the big question has always been: how do I get the most bang for the least bucks? If you’re a small developer with a limited budget (like we are), then you’re accustomed to carefully picking and choosing how and where to promote your product to reach the widest possible audience. We understand the struggle – which is why we created the Twitterrific Ad Network!

Now you can advertise your app, website, product or service directly on Twitterrific’s expansive network of tech-savvy users for just $100 a month. For that price we guarantee 1,000 tap-throughs – not impressions but actual visits – to your App Store page or website. What’s more, we take care of creating the ad for you ourselves and even provide App Analytics for iOS or Google Analytics for websites.

This sounds like a great idea for indie devs (great price), a tolerable idea for Twitterrific users (the app is currently funded by a tip jar; the ads look nice), and a bad idea once Twitter finds out (I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Twitter client implement their own ads).

August 17, 2018 · 05:45

When I wake up, I usually open Twitter to go with my coffee. Today is the first time I opened Mastodon first and the first interesting toot was about a barista. There are no coincidences.

August 16, 2018 · 21:37

Dear Twitter, you obviously don’t understand your own product or your users. Your infatuation with becoming something you are not will be the death of you, if you continue along this path. You lack apps on many OSes and the ones you do have aren’t very good. Stop this madness. Stop being delusional. Stop supporting evil. Do. The. Right. Thing. And bring back full API access to 3rd-party clients, whose creators actually understand our needs. #BreakingMyTwitter

July 26, 2018 · 08:17

Sometimes I wish I could follow people’s tweets via RSS (without jumping through any hoops).

Twitterific Loses Push Notifications and Streaming →

July 6, 2018 · 10:56

Chaim Gartenberg, writing for The Verge:

We’ve known for a few months that Twitter is going to further limit third-party apps starting on August 16th when it rolls out some major API changes. But now we’re starting to see the effects of those upcoming changes, starting with the popular third-party Twitter app Twitterific, which announced an update today preparing for the removal of two major features: push notifications and live-updating tweets.

This is the beginning of the end of Twitter for me. Jack is bereft of reality and doing everything he possibly can to screw over Twitter’s most engaged and loyal users, while at the same time shipping a terrible app on just a few platforms.

Oh, before I forget: Fuck you, Jack!

Tweetbot 3.0 for Mac is here!

May 15, 2018 · 20:27

Tweetbot 3.0 for Mac dropped today! I’ve only had a few minutes to play with it so far, but it’s looking like a solid release — I’ve taken to some of the new functionality immediately.

The new 3.0 isn’t a free upgrade this time, which isn’t surprising, since we haven’t paid for the Mac version since 2012 and it’s 1.0 release. Since I practically live on Twitter, I had no qualms about the price, but your mileage may vary.

No complaints or regrets so far — I’m very happy with the new version.

★ Tweetbot 3.0 for Mac — $9.99 / €10.99 / 47.99 PLN →

April 26, 2018 · 09:49

Micro.blog seems like the only sensible alternative to Twitter and Facebook at the moment. I love that it’s built on open web technologies even if it isn’t yet as frictionless as Twitter. I strongly feel that this is the way to go in the age of closing everything down.

Micro.blog Opens Up →

December 20, 2017 · 08:18

Manton Reece:

Micro.blog is now available to anyone. There’s a limit of 100 new sign-ups each day, so that we can better respond to feedback as the community grows. Thanks so much to the thousands of Kickstarter backers and new users who have helped us improve the platform this year.

This is what people should be using instead of Twitter and Instagram.

Twitter Changed The World; Twitter Died

October 16, 2017 · 09:01

Mike Monteiro:

[…] I was in a cab headed to therapy, which meant I was in a mood and I absent-mindedly tweeted out “I’ve been shot!” then turned my phone off and went to talk to my therapist about becoming a well-adjusted human being.

When I turned my phone back on I had about 20 new messages. Texts, voicemails, and a bunch of tweet replies. Including my now-wife, wondering what hospital I was at. That’s the day I discovered what Twitter was for. It was for having fun. And telling jokes. (BTW, my wife still doesn’t think this was a good joke.) That’s when I was hooked.

It took me quite a while to get to Twitter and even though I was a bit more restrained in my jokes than Mike, I did have fun. A lot of it.

And at some point, and I don’t know exactly when or how or who — even scarier I don’t know if the people involved know when or how or who — Twitter made the decision to ride the hate wave. With their investors demanding growth, and their leadership blind to the bomb they were sitting on, Twitter decided that the audience Trump was bringing them was more important than upholding their core principles, their ethics, and their own terms of service.

And that, whenever that day might have been, is the day Twitter died.

Like Mike, I have been considering shutting down or just not using my account any more. I don’t like what Twitter has become. I don’t like myself on Twitter half the time. I do wish App.Net got a reboot today. That way, we could try to start fresh and fix the mistakes that were made. Soon, I will have less and less reason to engage on Twitter. Perhaps there’ll be an alternative around by then. Perhaps not…

May 5, 2017 · 07:24

Surprising morning — Twitter appears to be down from my location, but fine when I VPNed myself to the UK. This hasn’t happened in a long time. I went to Micro.blog instead, but found that my timeline is a bit short. Discovered a cool iOS trick while editing this post though!

March 16, 2017 · 16:52

I love Twitter, but if anything happens to it, I will lose all my tweets — I’m still waiting for my archive, which I ‘ordered’ many months ago — so I’m considering microblogging here on Infinite Diaries instead. My inspiration for this post format comes from Manton Reece of course.

Twitter Adds New Features to Help Control Notifications and Reduce Abuse →

August 18, 2016 · 23:51

Emil Leong on Twitter’s blog:

Last year we began testing a quality filter setting and we’re now rolling out a feature for everyone. When turned on, the filter can improve the quality of Tweets you see by using a variety of signals, such as account origin and behavior. Turning it on filters lower-quality content, like duplicate Tweets or content that appears to be automated, from your notifications and other parts of your Twitter experience. It does not filter content from people you follow or accounts you’ve recently interacted with – and depending on your preferences, you can turn it on or off in your notifications settings.

This is a feature of verified accounts. It shouldn’t have been. Twitter should have given everyone access years ago, but hopefully this will help at least a few with abuse issues. Users will also get an option to only get notifications from people they follow.

Instagram Stories is Missing One Feature, Which I Would Love to See

August 6, 2016 · 15:17

While I can understand being inspired by something and putting your own spin on it, I hate blatant copying. It’s hard to judge the new Instagram Stories any other way — they took what Snapchat created and integrated it into Instagram. While it’s true that some things are a bit different, it’s still theft. The surprising part is that I haven’t started hating Instagram, which has always been the preferred way to share my photography with the world. There is one feature that I would like to see added to Instagram Stories (or Snapchat for that matter), which would make it a better storytelling tool than it currently is…

Continue reading →

32 Million Twitter Passwords Leaked →

June 9, 2016 · 15:37

LeakedSource:

This data set contains 32,888,300 records. Each record may contain an email address, a username, sometimes a second email and a visible password. We have very strong evidence that Twitter was not hacked, rather the consumer was. These credentials however are real and valid. Out of 15 users we asked, all 15 verified their passwords.

Change your password.

Twitter to Stop Counting Photos and Links in 140-Character Limit →

May 17, 2016 · 08:29

Sarah Frier:

Twitter Inc. is making a major shift in how it counts characters in Tweets, giving users more freedom to compose longer messages.
The social media company will soon stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit for messages, according to a person familiar with the matter. The change could happen in the next two weeks, said the person who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. Links currently take up 23 characters, even after Twitter automatically shortens them. The company declined to comment.

Twitter is so slow to innovate, and there are so many small things they could do to improve everyone’s time spent on there.

If the above comes to pass, only one question remains: will it also be included in the API for third-party clients?

Twitter Retires Magic Recs When Bots Are On The Rise →

May 2, 2016 · 22:16

Ingrid Lunden:

At a time when Twitter is looking for catchy things to capture more audience, it’s ironic that Magic Recs bot would stop working just as bots were starting to become a thing.

Doubly ironic is the fact that Magic Recs was a bot that actually worked when some have flopped. Like many others who followed it, I praised Magic Recs for being uncannily accurate in predicting interesting accounts to follow and tweets to watch. Twitter could have turned it into something that people could even pull for more Recs.

While push notifications may work out, the people using third-party Twitter clients will miss out on them. And I refuse to use the native client when it’s as bad as it is. Why not leave Magic Recs for hardcore users? While I don’t think much of the bots which seem to be popping up in many places recently, this was one that I really enjoyed.

Facebook, Google and WhatsApp Plan to Increase Encryption of User Data →

March 14, 2016 · 20:38

Danny Yadron:

Silicon Valley’s leading companies – including Facebook, Google and Snapchat – are working on their own increased privacy technology as Apple fights the US government over encryption, the Guardian has learned.

The projects could antagonize authorities just as much as Apple’s more secure iPhones, which are currently at the center of the San Bernardino shooting investigation. They also indicate the industry may be willing to back up their public support for Apple with concrete action.

Within weeks, Facebook’s messaging service WhatsApp plans to expand its secure messaging service so that voice calls are also encrypted, in addition to its existing privacy features. The service has some one billion monthly users. Facebook is also considering beefing up security of its own Messenger tool.

Snapchat, the popular ephemeral messaging service, is also working on a secure messaging system and Google is exploring extra uses for the technology behind a long-in-the-works encrypted email project.

At this point in time I would like to see more action from the other tech companies — this is obviously a delicate situation, but too much is at stake.

This Is Now the New Twitter Timeline ‘Algorithm’ Feature Works →

February 10, 2016 · 20:47

Mike Jahr:

You follow hundreds of people on Twitter — maybe thousands — and when you open Twitter, it can feel like you’ve missed some of their most important Tweets. Today, we’re excited to share a new timeline feature that helps you catch up on the best Tweets from people you follow.

Here’s how it works. You flip on the feature in your settings; then when you open Twitter after being away for a while, the Tweets you’re most likely to care about will appear at the top of your timeline – still recent and in reverse chronological order. The rest of the Tweets will be displayed right underneath, also in reverse chronological order, as always. At any point, just pull-to-refresh to see all new Tweets at the top in the live, up-to-the-second experience you already know and love.

Seems very reasonable and if I understand it correctly, this will be opt-in, which is rare these days. I wish Twitter kept all their new email mailing lists opt-in too.

P.S. This feature is not available nor will it affect the users of third party apps such as Twitterrific and Tweetbot.

How Will Twitter’s Algorithmic Timeline Work →

February 7, 2016 · 11:36

Alex Kantrowitz:

Say hello to a brand new Twitter. The company is planning to introduce an algorithmic timeline as soon as next week, BuzzFeed News has learned.
The timeline will reorder tweets based on what Twitter’s algorithm thinks people most want to see, a departure from the current feed’s reverse chronological order.

It is unclear whether Twitter will force users to use the algorithmic feed, or it will merely be an option.

Since Alex posted his article a few days ago, Casey Newton explained how it would work on The Verge:

The algorithm that will re-order your timeline is based on the one that ranks tweets for the “while you were away” feature that Twitter introduced a year ago. The best way to think of the new timeline is as an expanded version of this feature. Spend an entire day away from Twitter, and when you open the app again, you’ll see highlights from the day. If you open it up a few times a day, you’ll see a handful of “while you were away”-style sections breaking up the chronological tweets. And whenever you pull down to refresh your stream, it’s back to the regular, reverse-chronological timeline.

Here’s one way to think of it: scroll down through the timeline, and it’s like the Reddit homepage, showing the most popular things first. Scroll back up, and the feed turns into regular reverse-chronology Twitter. One tester told me that the new timeline will also show you related posts for popular tweets if you want to dive deeper. In any case, this will be the new Twitter by default — but you will be allowed to opt out of the new timeline, The Verge has confirmed.

As far I as I know, this change will not effect third party Twitter clients, such as Tweetbot [iOS / Mac] and Twitterrific [iOS] — they will continue to function as they have so far. Regular Twitter users will be able to opt out if they choose to, as far as Casey has learned at least.

First of all, I believe this should be an opt-in function — I can imagine many casual users getting confused about why their tweets are ordered in a seemingly random fashion. Secondly, the reason I stopped using Facebook was their algorithmic timeline — it never worked as I wanted it to. I hope Twitter doesn’t screw this up.

The Verge spoke to two users who have been testing the new timeline for a few months. Neither particularly liked it. “I started to get used to it but I still think that it is a terrible idea,” Twitter user Robin Bonny told me. “It tears conversations apart, and it’s really confusing when some people have been live-tweeting an event and those things get scattered all across my timeline. It makes it extremely hard to follow events, and destroys one of the core values of Twitter, in my opinion.”

I am extremely disappointed that Twitter never bothered to introduce a timeline position sync API, and I’m extremely thankful that Tapbots is doing such excellent work on Tweetbot. If not for the latter, I would probably have stopped using Twitter a long time ago.

Facebook Tested Users’ Patience by Introducing Intentional Crashes in App →

January 5, 2016 · 18:47

Jon Fingas:

Facebook may have even gone so far as to test Android users’ dependence on its app. Reportedly, it knowingly introduced crashing glitches to see whether or not people would abandon Facebook if they couldn’t use its native app on Google’s platform. It doesn’t have anything to worry about, according to the findings — users would rather stick to the mobile website than lose contact with their online friends.

I’d survive the crashes, but Facebook lost me the day they decided to mess with my timeline:

  1. If I set it to display my timeline in a chronological order, I want that setting remembered — it wasn’t.
  2. Even if I specifically stated that I want to see ‘everything’ a certain person posts, Facebook’s algorithm would choose to omit certain information — this drew the line for me and I stopped using it almost entirely.

Bottom line: don’t mess with a man’s carefully curated timeline. This applies to Twitter too.