Twitter redux May 30, 2013 4:13 PM   Subscribe

So I know there have been other MeTas about finding each other on Twitter and how the social explorer isn't so great for that, since there are too many of us and there's no way to tell who's active, etc. BUT I just saw that Twitter expanded their Lists feature to allow 5000 per list, and I went and checked the social explorer and there are only 3300 mefites who've posted their Twitter accounts...

...so would it be practical to just export our handles in bulk to a single Twitter list that any of us could follow?

Would people see this as a privacy issue? Didn't Metafilter itself do this same thing way back when, with a widget here that showed an aggregate Twitter feed? Or was that something different than how a List would work today? Is it even possible to make a list in bulk or would someone have to enter each handle individually? Or could we opt in by adding ourselves to a List individually?

I am clearly no Twitter expert. But I thought I'd throw it out there and see what others think. I'm really liking our Google+ group and it's the first thing to get me actually paying attention to Google+, so if there was a better way to find MeFites on Twitter too, that would be pretty cool.
posted by pete_22 to Feature Requests at 4:13 PM (61 comments total) 2 users marked this as a favorite

Lots of people have their own lists of MetaFilter folks on Twitter already. If you choose a few MetaFilter members, take a look at their Twitter profile, and browse the lists they're on you should start stumbling into where MetaFilter and Twitter collide.

For example, here's a page on Twitter that shows the lists I'm on. There are a few MetaFilter specific lists there—that could be a place to start.

Some people choose to hide their Twitter account from non-members on their profile page. So I do think there could be some issues with automatically adding people to lists on Twitter. If you're going to start your own, it couldn't hurt to ask people if they want to be included.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:20 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


Didn't Metafilter itself do this same thing way back when, with a widget here that showed an aggregate Twitter feed?

We did, but it eventually took up too many resources so we stopped.

...so would it be practical to just export our handles in bulk to a single Twitter list that any of us could follow?

I think there are too many privacy issues involved with doing this as an official site feature. Other people have put together ad hoc lists of MetaFilter members and I think that's fine. But as something official that's run by MetaFilter, I don't think it's going to happen.
posted by pb (staff) at 4:25 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


There are a few MetaFilter specific lists there—that could be a place to start.

OK but they look pretty tiny.

Some people choose to hide their Twitter account from non-members on their profile page. So I do think there could be some issues with automatically adding people to lists on Twitter.

Well, couldn't it be a private list, so that we could only follow it if we're on it?

We did, but it eventually took up too many resources so we stopped.

Right, so if it was a question of resources not privacy, and now it can be duplicated with Twitter's resources...

as something official that's run by MetaFilter, I don't think it's going to happen.

I hear you, and it's not like I'm threatening to run off and do it myself, even if I knew how. Just wanted to see what others here thought about the idea.
posted by pete_22 at 4:57 PM on May 30, 2013


Well, couldn't it be a private list, so that we could only follow it if we're on it?

I think the privacy problem is that everything on Twitter once it's on Twitter (like a list) is public. Some people don't link their public Twitter stream with their MeFi account, and if we auto-created a public Twitter list of all known MeFi-Twitter account holders, it might "out" a few people that didn't want that to be public.

You say the social explorer doesn't work that great for you, but I find it pretty useful. We could consider tweaking it into a "Find your friends" feature where only the people that follow you and are also on MeFi are shown to you.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:04 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


I could save you some time re: my account: My bus never came this morning, I had a chickpea sandwich and chips for lunch, I'm working late, and my cat is adorable.
posted by maryr at 5:28 PM on May 30, 2013 [19 favorites]


Snarky comment about #VividSydney being a glorfied lightshow.

I havne't used Twitter in a year, but i did use it to connect cortex (or mathowie) with John Darnielle recently.

Free the refugees and add nuclear power! #qanda

RT: I wanna win some punk vinyl. #offwiththeirheads
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 5:32 PM on May 30, 2013


I hope you like posts about my hair and/or tie status cause that's all I ever tweet about.
posted by The Whelk at 5:37 PM on May 30, 2013 [4 favorites]


Is there a list of MeFi Instagram accounts? Ya'll are misisng out on some sweet Sydney street art and pictures of elaborate breakfasts.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 5:41 PM on May 30, 2013


You people are the only reason I ever consider venturing into Twitter. I already follow some MeFites on a weird novelty account I never use; maybe it's time I made an account I wouldn't be embarrassed to have linked to my profile here.
posted by prize bull octorok at 5:50 PM on May 30, 2013


I should take twitter off my profile, since I never tweet any more. It started feeling like one more thing I Had To Do, and then I felt guilty for not tweeting or replying or anything, so...yeah. Wish I were better at it.
posted by rtha at 6:24 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


If we were /b/ we could all trade our chat roulette handles...
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:30 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


I both do and do not want. I already spend too much time on Twitter. To borrow evo-psych framing, it's like "ooh, there's a tasty tidbit, how about that mushroom, do you think it's poisonous? I'm gonna fight that squirrel for that acorn, oh look mango tree..."

When I click through to see who has the excellent good taste to favorite one of my comments/posts, I usually look to see if they have a Tumblr or Twitter and then, if their account is still active and not too full of half nekkid people, follow them. That will suffice for me for now...
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:33 PM on May 30, 2013


Yeah, bloody half nekkid people....

GO HARD OR GO HOME!
posted by pompomtom at 6:51 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


I only use Twitter for stuff related to my profession, so I don't really participate in this stuff. I already feel kind of awkward for not following the MeFites who follow me, but I just don't use Twitter to socialize much. I use it to keep track of developments in my field and stuff like that.
posted by Miko at 6:57 PM on May 30, 2013


I'm on twitter but don't want my mefi account linked to it and my usernames are different. I follow quite a few MeFites and would follow all of you if I knew who you were because I think you're all interesting. So if anyone want to put together a twitter mefi group I'd be on it as long as I don't have to link to it from here.

I could probably open another twitter account but I already have one (main) personal one and one I use for work and following two twitter accounts is probably enough for me.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:05 PM on May 30, 2013


I'm very British on Twitter, nothing but comments about the weather and the cat.
posted by arcticseal at 7:13 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


I am still twitter challenged. I am probably not the only MeFite it would be completely pointless to follow. And I got locked out of one of my two twitter accounts and never managed to fix it (mostly cuz I live in the Internet Ghetto known as Android -- and it wasn't a high priority cuz...twitter challenged, so what's the point?).

But you can list me if you want. NBD.
posted by Michele in California at 7:15 PM on May 30, 2013


As far as I know, private lists on Twitter are only visible to their creator. You don't know if you've been added to a private list, and no one else knows it's there. So while that mitigates some--though not all--of the risk, it also has no utility to anyone except yourself as a private list. And Twitter itself has no bulk import feature, though I can't imagine it would be too difficult to put together / there must be third party tools that do it.

I don't have my Twitter in my profile anymore, but if I did I would feel really weird about being aggregated into an offsite directory of MeFites, and it definitely seems like it should be an opt-in thing. It feels different when it's MeFites I sort of know following me and listing me, versus when it's just a data dump. Maybe that's just an emotional distinction, but I think it's one that matters.

I do keep my own list of MeFites so I remember how I know the less prolific names in my feed, but I remove anyone who asks to be removed (I think only one person so far). There's about 230 people on there, which is definitely more than enough material for me, though obviously YMMV. I'd be happy to pass the link along via email if you're looking for people to follow.
posted by Phire at 7:16 PM on May 30, 2013


My Twitter feed is approximately equal proportions of kitten updates, public transit griping, Pittsburgh chitchat, and trying to get Twitter to make my important life decisions for me. If this is relevant to anyone's interests I'm happy to approve MeFites to follow my (locked) account and/or to be on MeFite lists. But you might want to wait until tomorrow because I'm about to start flailing with spelling bee stress.
posted by Stacey at 7:17 PM on May 30, 2013


(Also if you're new-ish to Twitter and don't have a lot of followers there's a cap on how many people you can follow, to mitigate spambots. I think around 1,000? You can list people without following them, but the list feature is so underdeveloped on Twitter that this severely reduces the utility of having a list to begin with.)
posted by Phire at 7:18 PM on May 30, 2013


This seems like as good a place as any.

How do you know how many people have Twitter linked in their profile over here? More importantly, how can I take that knowledge and use it to stalk follow people on other things?
posted by theichibun at 8:20 PM on May 30, 2013


I used to follow a lot of news related feeds on Twitter, but I've started dropping more and more of them because it tends to make me miss the much more interesting TwitterFilter that goes on. For example, tonight I'm trying to scroll back my feed and figure out where in the hell on MeFi there's an active Leprechaun derail.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:42 PM on May 30, 2013 [2 favorites]



I used to follow a lot of news related feeds on Twitter, but I've started dropping more and more of them because it tends to make me miss the much more interesting TwitterFilter that goes on. For example, tonight I'm trying to scroll back my feed and figure out where in the hell on MeFi there's an active Leprechaun derail.


Probably the latest wrestling thread, since midget wrestler Hornswoggle was announced for the next Lebrechuan movie.
posted by Charlemagne In Sweatpants at 8:57 PM on May 30, 2013


How do you know how many people have Twitter linked in their profile over here?

There's the MeFi Social Explorer. Select Twitter. Pow. If any of your MeFi contacts are on the list they'll be highlighted.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:03 PM on May 30, 2013 [4 favorites]


I am, no doubt, Doing It Rong, but mefi social explorer gives me ALL the mefites on twitter, not my contacts.
posted by Michele in California at 9:09 PM on May 30, 2013


Nope, that's right. If any of your contacts are on the list they'll be highlighted with a darker color.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:12 PM on May 30, 2013


Which is even better for me.
posted by theichibun at 9:12 PM on May 30, 2013


O. I C.

Thx.

(Have I mentioned in the last 5 minutes my terrible eyesight?)
posted by Michele in California at 9:21 PM on May 30, 2013


Today's big twitter news from me is that nobody in this Star Trek episode is on the same page about pronouncing Sarek's name.
posted by Sara C. at 9:25 PM on May 30, 2013 [3 favorites]


I follow about 165 people, half or so MeFites, and my twitter feed is a continual firehouse of updates that I can barely keep up with. How do people who follow thousands keep up. Or do you even try?
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:55 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


Except at 4 in the morning, when it's a couple of Brits, a couple Aussies and Bitter Old Punk wrangling with insomnia, like me.
posted by Devils Rancher at 9:57 PM on May 30, 2013


You skim.
posted by triggerfinger at 9:58 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


You 2%. #milkjokes #fun #laffs #twitter #comicsunleashed #myspace
posted by mintcake! at 10:39 PM on May 30, 2013 [1 favorite]


How do people who follow thousands keep up. Or do you even try?

I don't really see that I need to "keep up," in the sense of seeing every single thing said ever by every person I follow.

The reason I love following a lot of people is it's a constant stream of information and entertainment that never stops, day or night. It's pretty great.

(I do know people that makes lists of favorite people and put another column on tweetdeck, but I haven't done that yet. Occasionally I click on someone's profile and read back a bit if it seems like they're on an extended, interesting rant or story.)
posted by drjimmy11 at 11:05 PM on May 30, 2013


Nobody keeps up with Twitter, it's the ultimate ephemeral "social" medium. You check it when you have the time or inclination, you don't care if you can't.
posted by MartinWisse at 12:08 AM on May 31, 2013 [3 favorites]


I keep up with Twitter! But in order to do so, I only follow ~100 accounts, including quite a few that have stopped tweeting or do so infrequently, and they are nearly all people I know in person. I also turned off retweets from all but a few, and found this reduced my stress levels considerably (there had been a lot of outragefilter in those RTs). I'm not sure how unusual my approach is, but I'm well aware that it's not what Twitter wants me to be doing.

I also report-as-spam every promoted tweet that shows up in my feed, because I am ornery about advertising.
posted by daisyk at 12:47 AM on May 31, 2013


@plochops
posted by bardic at 1:11 AM on May 31, 2013


OK so just to clarify, the old Twitter widget here was members only? You had to be logged in to see it? Or we're talking about a change in privacy norms since then?

Either way, it sounds like Twitter lists can't be private in quite the way I thought, so I guess it's not workable.

I'm on twitter but don't want my mefi account linked to it and my usernames are different. I follow quite a few MeFites and would follow all of you if I knew who you were because I think you're all interesting. So if anyone want to put together a twitter mefi group I'd be on it as long as I don't have to link to it from here.

To be honest, this preference did not even occur to me. Couldn't you add Twitter to your profile here but set it to be hidden for non-members, as pb alluded to above? Or is it that you don't want even mefites to know it's the same person?

In any case I think it's safe to say that people who do link Twitter on their profile are cool with other mefites making the connection, but I get that they may not be OK with the general public making the connection.
posted by pete_22 at 1:32 AM on May 31, 2013


I keep up with Twitter! But in order to do so, I only follow ~100 accounts, including quite a few that have stopped tweeting or do so infrequently, and they are nearly all people I know in person.

Yeah this is my approach with friends who start blogs. After a month or two the posting frequency trails off and now "friends" is the biggest section in my Google Reader (well now Newsblur) but almost never has any updates. I think of them (affectionately!) as the dead people who voted for Mr. Burns for mayor, and one day plan to use their dormant blogs for some similarly nefarious scheme.
posted by pete_22 at 1:36 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Hey, I'm on twitter now! I just added it to my profile. I have lots of followers. But I don't tweet very much. It is a mystery.
posted by Grither at 4:19 AM on May 31, 2013


(not really, I had a friend who was very smug about how many followers they had, so I bought myself 10,000 for $5 as a joke. I thought it was hilarious. Then my account got shut down. But I'm back! And unfortunately, so are all my fake followers. Sigh)
posted by Grither at 4:22 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


We could consider tweaking it into a "Find your friends" feature where only the people that follow you and are also on MeFi are shown to you.

Is that a Mama Pony I see on her way to the nursing home for a delivery?
posted by infini at 5:07 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]



Nobody keeps up with Twitter, it's the ultimate ephemeral "social" medium. You check it when you have the time or inclination, you don't care if you can't.


Dood, get with the times, your own government tends to use it as an extranet, to say nothing of the Kenyans #KOT or Rwandans...
posted by infini at 5:08 AM on May 31, 2013


There's the MeFi Social Explorer. Select Twitter. Pow. If any of your MeFi contacts are on the list they'll be highlighted.
posted by pb (staff) at 12:03 AM on May 31 [2 favorites +] [!]


Neither Metachat nor Mefightclub are listed. I'm not saying that they necessarily are world renowned and globally recognized... but they are both social and related to this site... and yet we have both people on Canvas and our active member of Doodle or Die fully supported and flagged up... (I like to think of those tags as the equivalent of Japanese Sashimono flags. That way Akira Kurosawa would be proud of us.)
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:21 AM on May 31, 2013


If you aren't following neko case you should.
posted by Annika Cicada at 5:31 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


You can handily find me via Twitter through my profile page here (because it's under my real name. I was never very good at clever handles.)

But I was stupid excited when bibliogrrl, ArtW, and The Kendal Mintcake started following me. (If there are MeFites who are following me and I have forgotten you...well, it's probably because your name there and your name here may be different.)

Anyway, I love Twitter. I am not ashamed.
posted by Kitteh at 6:15 AM on May 31, 2013 [2 favorites]


I make it really hard to hate-follow me because all I talks about is basketball these days. Sorry y'all (except Dr. Jimmy, who is even more cynical about basketball than me, being a lakers fan.)
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:43 AM on May 31, 2013


#IWillNotBeShamed
posted by Potomac Avenue at 7:43 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


You had to be logged in to see it? Or we're talking about a change in privacy norms since then?

No, you didn't have to be logged in to see it. We only included members who set their Social Apps to public. We added the group Twitter page in 2007 and then shut it down in 2011.

I do think there have been some changing privacy expectations over that time. Even if we suddenly had unlimited resources I'm not sure we'd add this feature today. Setting aside shifting privacy concerns, I think tweets from 3000+ Twitter accounts would be difficult to follow. The pool of MeFites using Twitter was much smaller in 2007.
posted by pb (staff) at 8:25 AM on May 31, 2013


If you aren't following neko case you should.

If I followed Neko Case the way I'm inclined to, there would be a restraining order.
posted by Devils Rancher at 8:26 AM on May 31, 2013 [3 favorites]


I do think there have been some changing privacy expectations over that time. Even if we suddenly had unlimited resources I'm not sure we'd add this feature today. Setting aside shifting privacy concerns, I think tweets from 3000+ Twitter accounts would be difficult to follow. The pool of MeFites using Twitter was much smaller in 2007

pb, I would truly be appreciative if you would expound further on these shifts in expectations around privacy, if you would be so kind?
posted by infini at 8:30 AM on May 31, 2013


Sure? What would you like to know?
posted by pb (staff) at 8:37 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Today's big twitter news from me is that nobody in this Star Trek episode is on the same page about pronouncing Sarek's name.

Last night, I also found out Sara C. doesn't care for Voyager! ;D
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:39 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Sure? What would you like to know?

A few sentences, when you have a moment, painting the dots on the landscape you see of the shifts in our own expectations (is it generational? digital immigrant vs native? Or is it age?) of the concept of online privacy?

I personally feel that I've had the last veil in the dance yanked away from me before I was ready to give up the good old days when you could fill your name in as Funny Person, non gender specific 3 year old in outer space.
posted by infini at 8:47 AM on May 31, 2013


I don't know that I've given it enough thought to put the causes of Privacy change in the big picture like that. My gut tells me things have changed. We see more requests at the Contact Form related to privacy than we did years ago. It feels to me like people are working harder to manage their identity and they're sensitive to changes that could compromise it. I know privacy and identiy issues are on the top of my mind when considering features here and I'm not sure that was case in 2007.
posted by pb (staff) at 9:06 AM on May 31, 2013 [1 favorite]


Oh yeah, I should apologize for my TL recently. Because of elizardbits' incredible Tumblr, all I rave about in the evening hours is Teen Wolf. During the day, it's mostly politics, food, and cats. But at night: TEEN WOLF.


(shakes a tiny fist at elizardbits)
posted by Kitteh at 9:33 AM on May 31, 2013


A bunch of people are in the process of getting a random Instagram follower. It's probably me. Anyone who has a cat in the first few pictures is an instafollow from me.
posted by theichibun at 10:15 AM on May 31, 2013


I show my mefitness better on mlkshk - come join us there o visual thinkers of the world *ducks*
posted by infini at 10:21 AM on May 31, 2013


When you 'get' someone, it doesn't matter if your backgrounds are different. Someone who loves you will want to learn about where you came from and you will want to learn everything about them too. ~ words found suddenly on my clipboard, prolly from the green thread but it applies here so whatever.

pb: your answer helps, a lot


Now, gentle readers of this comment, imagine, what would be the online concept of identity and privacy that might make sense to a rural African farmer?

Or is this an Ask?
posted by infini at 10:22 AM on May 31, 2013


I've got an official editor-hat Twitter at @aescifi and also a random personal one at @dfmccourt. Follow away.
posted by 256 at 4:33 PM on May 31, 2013


I have a personal Twitter, but I just created a new one for my MeFi account. Linking it to my profile now.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 3:32 PM on June 15, 2013


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