Yep. I said it. Please. For gods sake everyone. Stop using the twitlonger/deck.ly/extenderthingy on Twitter. It's annoying.
And by annoying, I mean that by using this added "functionality" you are actually destroying the functionality and flow of the tool itself. Twitter allows you to get the message in one hit. It's not very consumable if you have to click away to an external browser to read the whole message. Twitter is 140 characters. 20 characters less then a standard text. It's not hard to do.
I love Tweetdeck. I use it everyday and love to support a British company. I big it up when I can. But why deck.ly? If it was purely a URL shortner (like I set up for giffgaff (giff.ly) or setting up for myself (heather.ly)), I'd be OK. I'd think it was cute. But to encourage this browser/ app mess? Ugh.
Yes twitter is not for everyone. If you want to send a more detailed message, guess what? Take it off Twitter. You've got Facebook and email and even text messaging. Just because we can send huge text messages doesn't mean the same needs to apply to Twitter. Maybe we could build it up and send 1000 word essay form tweets. But how about we just call it hotmail then?
If you want to violate the constraints of Twitter it's OK but do it elsewhere. If you really need to DM me a message longer than 140 characters, then we shouldn't be tweeting about it.
So keep it out of my stream. I mean it.
(PS. I was going to tweet this, but realised it was too long. Some people may have used deck.ly but I POSTED IT ON MY BLOG. Rant over.)
Don't see the problem myself. Twitter doesn't handle photos, videos or longer messages but there's been a demand so someone's built bolt-on services for them. Long may that continue.
ReplyDeleteWhat's the difference between posting a twitlonger/deck.ly link in twitter and posting a link to a blog post in twitter?
ReplyDeleteWell said!
ReplyDeleteThe problem is it lives outside the system - photos and videos can play within tweetdeck but that's not the same for deck.ly - you go to a web browser and then have to go back to twitter to respond.
ReplyDeleteWhen you post a link to a blog, the info in the tweet tells you what the blog will be about so you could know if you are interested in knowing more. The problem with deck.ly is that you only get half of a message so you don't understand the full message. It would be better to email in that case or send a person where they can have full concise information.
ReplyDelete@Heather Taylor
ReplyDeleteSo your main objection is that there isn't yet a convention of making the first part of a twitlonger/deck.ly message more descriptive or summary like? That may well come in time...
Personally - working in the socialCRM space - I am looking forward to not having to go through the rigmarole of exchanging numerous tweets, followed by DMs, (after mutual following) and then emails in order to respond to customer service twee that could or should have been answered in one tweet, publicly. Writing a blog post to answer a question is a bit overkill for me too...
I'll still be mostly writing tweets shorter than 140 chars of course, it's just nice to have the option to waffle on a bit...
@Nommo
ReplyDeleteIt needs to have that yes - if it allowed for a summery sentance with a "Read More" after it and then you could read more, that would help maintain the flow of Twitter. The problem at the moment is that you'll see an incomplete thought. The only way to see more is to go out of the application. It is a poor user experience. Hopefully, as you say it will get better, but why launch it without that consideration?
I also work in the social CRM space and understand those frustrations - but I usually push back into a forum where there can be more conversation, and a conversation that can be left behind to be found for others to read it at a later date. Others that have the same difficulty. If it is a confidential matter, it's better to talk to email or a call in most cases. One tweet answered publicly will only help people on Twitter that day or really those few minutes that you tweet. Twitter is great at passing conversation but not at longevity.
I see your point, but I think that we continue to experience the evolution of twitter and you are pushing against a big tide. Perhaps uncomfortable at the moment but that's not to say it won't come out in the wash (I don't usually mix my aquatic metaphors).
ReplyDeletetwitter started as a content medium - containing the content itself - but it's sheer inherent utility has driven it beyond that, to the extent that if it hasn't become a transport mechanism, it certainly gets used like that by a great many people.
The issue really then is the experience when it is used like this. That's already been streamlined for many payloads, such as video and photo; but less so for others, such as long text, audio and so on. I think it will come and I think we should actually encourage it to do so - even if it means a little pain in the meantime. The right clients and integration will come with time, I'm sure.
I think your complaints have merit though in respect of users - users being educated to use the medium in the best possible way and communicate properly with readers. But, sadly, users are lazy. Email is abused just the same. Barely anyone these days snips email or comments inline to make it easy for you as a reader. That's just people - they're very annoying :-) So, I think, the argument of deflecting users to a more appropriate channel while worthy, it possibly fruitless :-)
nik