Comment by simonsarris | Hacker News Reader

Comment by simonsarris | Hacker News Reader

So far for me there's a single big use-case for twitter, and it's the reason I went from a zero-tweeter to a "gee I should look like a normal, respectable upstanding Twitizen(?)[1]" user. For some very large companies, Twitter is apparently the best/only medium one can use to communicate with them about issues (regardless of how important they are).

I've found that when I don't want a response I can file a bug report or send an email. When I do I can publicly whine on twitter and @-someone.

It sorta feels bad to do but it really does work.

The use case I'd like to use twitter for is trying out some jokes/"deep thoughts", but I don't have enough followers so I just tweet them to the wind and I'll never how just how unfunny I really am. I can definitely understand why most people would use it as a follow-only service - it's somewhat depressing to knowingly broadcast to (almost) nobody.

[1] Wow that's been a word for at least five years. I guess that's not too surprising...

The problem with only using Twitter for customer support purposes is it reflects poorly on your online identity. Twitter's profiles will rank pretty high in Google and if everything that comes up is you looking to resolve something (even if they are legitimate concerns with companies where you weren't at fault), it comes across as a one sided use of the medium.

You also describe the usual chicken and egg problem any social medium involves. Nobody will follow you without interesting content and if you have no followers, you're less inclined to spend time posting it. Break out of that cycle by spending a limited amount of time on our tweets first. Make mistakes and figure out your voice while you don't have a bunch of followers yet. See if the 140 character limit works for you e.g.. Find value in the process of coming up with the content in the first place. If you still enjoy that, then you're well equipped for a larger following.

Do you add relevant hashtags to your jokes/deep thoughts? That would help them to be discovered by others.

For some but I find them super hard to use well and remain funny (funny to me at least). Lame example of hashtag use:

> #baseball combines the two things Americans love most: Perfect lawns and arguments in hindsight about the decisions that professionals make.

I wrote this, but think it's funnier without the hashtag.

With many more I can think of things that I considered really funny, but had no conceivable way of adding hashtags without taking away from the brevity:

> I propose we start calling snow plow guys "Storm Troopers"

> The first stage of grief is learning to pronounce the disease.

Where could I hashtag those up without making them considerably less funny? I think the brevity is required for maximum "impact", and I don't wanna detract by putting a hashtag in the middle, because its the sentence equivalent of stressing a syllable awkwardly.

Some people on Twitter have turned this awkward word-stressing into an art. Comedian Rob Delaney comes to mind as an expert in maximizing the awkwardness of it.

A common method to avoid interfering with the statement you're trying to make is to mash as many hashtags in as possible after the fact.

Can you imagine that, though?

"The first stage of grief is learning to pronounce the disease #joke #black humour #funny #comedy"

You'd look like a colossal ass if you did that.

And yet, many popular users do exactly that. I'm a huge proponent of keeping metadata, which is what hashtags are, out of the data. It sucks but, making your message "discoverable" pollutes your message.

That is how twitter jokes look. It is part and parcel of the medium. Better to have the joke look like a twitter joke and get read by an audience, than to make it pure and read by nobody. Really, the hashtags are no more out of place than a smiley face on an email.

I don't use Twitter, but based on what I see on Instagram, I agree with the parent that those people look like asses. It comes off as whoring for followers, and a bit desperate.

I think it's different, however, if there are a few hashtags at the end which in themselves are jokes or metajokes and that add to the cleverness of the post, in the same way that XKCD alt-text does. A string of simple categories (#joke #jokes #funny #comedy) is just annoying.

These are pretty clever!

What's your Twitter handle? I wanna retweet these, especially the #baseball one. I might even follow you if you keep cranking out these gems. ;)

In the last month/years, I've noticed that a good number of companies where I live (mostly ISPs) have started to offer official support over Twitter/Facebook. It's usually the only way to get some decent support, as the choice is between social networks and call centers - and for most of those companies, their call centers are outsourced out of the contry, full of people that barely understand/talk your language, and that don't really know anything about solving issues.

I've found this to be the case for me, whether it's going online to check if the game servers really are down, or to ask a question hoping for some quick feedback.

I rarely use Twitter, but I do see the value it provides to help businesses and customers connect.

Pretty much the same here. We recently flew to Portugal, and the easiest way to request a special meal from TAP Portugal was to ask them on twitter. The only other option was to call during business hours and wait on hold.

> most people would use it as a follow-only service

Well the majority of this 44% is almost certainly just spam accounts.

This is a really frustrating habit. It's basically demanding that you skip any support queues and get helped before everyone else, because you're airing your discontent publicly.

A related tweet of mine on that same subject circa 2010: https://twitter.com/tpurves/status/19352426907

"Swearing at brands on twitter really is the new and awesome 'nuclear option' for receiving full-on customer support."

back when brands were first getting on twitter, and those of us with a few followers suddenly realize the huge power those brands had accidentally handed over. e.g. Cable internet companies that would normally jerk you around and put you on hold for hours, but one little slightly-swear-word-infused tweet and suddenly you get gold-plated service. Those days were awesome.

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