Twitter is dumb; don't use it

[Doppleganger]

I'm starting to think that the perception of comfort Twitter generates, which leads to the openness of anonymity without any of the protection, is tearing apart online community cohesion as much as it is terrorizing people in the real world.

You've probably heard about the Cosby rape allegations which dropped in part due to Twitter, and was a wholly obnoxious affair; now we're getting more in the way if rampant stupidity like this:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/red-sox...6416--mlb.html

Just disgusting. The thought that someone could lose their job over something so coincidental is baffling, and while it was possible for the social media team to have the situational awareness to avoid posting something like that, it doesn't excuse the attackers from being total pricks.

[Talon87]

Not sure why you'd target Twitter specifically. Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, Google+: these all apply. In the case of sports teams making public announcements, it goes far beyond social media: "How was your Monday?" could have just as easily been asked on ESPN or on the Sports page of the New York Times in response to the Red Sox's signings. If we're to speak of tunnel vision, it strikes me as incredibly narrow-sighted to say, "Twitter is dumb. Quit using it," just because some people hold some other people to task for what they say on Twitter.

As for the pouncing on the Red Sox for an innocuous tweet that was poorly timed, that is dumb. I disagree with the people who say, "Man, you'd have to tunnel vision to have not known about Ferguson. " Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, no? I just don't watch or read the news much these days, getting most of my information from friends and social circles I'm plugged into, and I happened to be busy all day yesterday with a variety of things such that I didn't learn about Ferguson until waking up this morning and seeing RealMrGame10's thread about it. Do I now have "tunnel vision" because I am not obsessed with all things Ferguson, that I didn't know a grand jury verdict was going to be read yesterday? Preposterous. People need to stop pouncing on things taken out of context (deliberately and maliciously or otherwise) and need to start chasing after real problem-makers making real problems.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Not sure why you'd target Twitter specifically. Facebook, Reddit, Tumblr, Google+: these all apply. In the case of sports teams making public announcements, it goes far beyond social media: "How was your Monday?" could have just as easily been asked on ESPN or on the Sports page of the New York Times in response to the Red Sox's signings. If we're to speak of tunnel vision, it strikes me as incredibly narrow-sighted to say, "Twitter is dumb. Quit using it," just because some people hold some other people to task for what they say on Twitter.

The convenient answer is a lot of the recent controversies have happen over Twitter; Gamergate, Cosby Rape, and now this. Since I follow sports and most sports journalists use Twitter, not Facebook/Reddit as their primary news content delivery medium, it recurs far more frequently to me than the alternatives. I feel like the simplified format and ease of searching presents a far more accessible tool to the layman than Reddit, Tumblr or modern Facebook. I've never even used Google+ so I have no idea.

The problems with Twitter have been around for several years, but people haven't learned and the culture hasn't shifted. So rather than move on to the other forms, I'd rather people simply fall back on the more 'traditional' forms of reporting/communication - websites and blogs - to insulate against this kind of silliness.

[Stealthy]

Twitter isn't the problem with Twitter. Reddit isn't the problem with Reddit. Tumblr isn't the problem with Tumblr. The problem is some of the people. Blame them.

[DaveTheFishGuy]

"This job would be great if it wasn't for the fucking customers."

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Stealthy

Twitter isn't the problem with Twitter. Reddit isn't the problem with Reddit. Tumblr isn't the problem with Tumblr. The problem is some of the people. Blame them.

Another way of phrasing this: "Guns don't kill people, People kill people". And I completely agree. But a cultural change is very difficult to accomplish with a large enough population, despite being the root of the problem: even if you have the cooperation of 99.9% of the population, it just takes one person to screw it up. So, it's much easier for me to visualize a practical solution like simply avoiding Twitter.

[Jerichi]

Twitter has been a website where I've heard a lot of controversy and bile thrown at it much like Tumblr (though obviously on a different scale, since Twitter is very much about more than hipster blogs, porn and SJ). It's become a front for a lot of controversial things (#gamergate, for instance, was fought primarily on Twitter), and a lot of chatter about things such as "Twitter Feminism" (whatever that's supposed to mean) have been thrown around, both heralding and criticizing them.

Personally I've never seen Twitter as more than a glorified advertizing tool but it's also turned into this weird Cronenberg monster of news, citizen journalism, microblogging and just good oldfashioned rantspace. I honestly think that the format of it makes it miserable for just about every single one of these purposes (aside from advertizing) and that it may very well reduce much of what could be serious, mature discussion into hashtags and snippy strawmans. It's created a unique echo chamber, IMO, for pretty much any group that uses it, since there's such little space for expression and little wiggle room for complex ideas. It lends itself so well to blind screaming since you're discouraged actively from producing more than just a sentence. I think this backlash is pretty evident of that kind of sentiment that I've seen myself.

But that's just my limited experience.

[SoS]

My friend just changed her Twitter handle to @quoththegayven, which had me laughing for half an hour.