Trump Has Ruined Twitter As We Knew It

An informative bird turns into an annoying parrot…

I know I said I was done writing about politics. But this isn’t about politics. It’s about us. And Twitter.

I don’t know about you, but for me, using Twitter the past couple weeks has been painful. Yes, it’s a painful reminder of the reality of the election, but that’s not what I mean here. It’s just painful to use because it seems like every single tweet is about one thing: Trump.

I exaggerate, of course. But not by much. My timeline is well over half “Trump said this,” “Trump did this,” “Trump didn’t do this,” etc, etc, etc. I figured this would be the case immediately following the election — and so I largely stayed off Twitter for those few days — but two weeks on and I think things are actually getting worse.

This isn’t even about the contents of the tweets. Given my own biases, most are obviously anti-Trump. But plenty of folks are sharing a lot of pro-Trump news as well (such as retweeting ludicrous things Trump supporters are saying). And those stories are leading to a massive number of people retweeting them, often with commentary, ensuring I’ll see the original tweet again. And again. And again.

It’s like being in a special type of hell — with parrots. Loud fucking parrots. Everyone is just saying some variation of the same thing over and over and over again. I understand why: all of us, on both sides, are still trying to come to terms with this outcome and to figure it out for ourselves (and/or crow about it). But all of that in one continuous timeline is just too much.

It’s enough to force people to use lists — lists! — the most neglected feature of Twitter’s many neglected features.

And so. I really do believe it may be time for Twitter to change things up. ‘While you were away’ and the new(ish?) ‘Highlights’ point towards a tenable future. The new muting of keywords is another part (though it has to expand beyond just push notifications — update: see Ev Williams’ response below, the muting is for the notifications tab not the pushes themselves).

I think you take these things and make a new main feed that is curated. I know this is a dirty word around the Twitter parts of the web. But it feels like it needs to happen eventually and this is a good time to start. You make the curated “Highlights” feed the main feed. Instead of 3, 5, or 50 of the best tweets you haven’t seen yet, it’s hundreds of them. Maybe thousands.

Yes, it’s almost Facebook-ian. But with less family photos. And more of what Twitter is good at. Double and triple down on information. Just not the same information over and over again. If people want that…

There’s still a real time feed of everyone you follow, but it’s the second tab. Maybe even make it the option to be the first tab for those who really don’t want to change (Twitter’s own Dashboard app does a good job with these multiple feeds which are just a swipe away — and you can re-order them as you see fit).

Yeah, yeah, I’m a power user and this is a power user problem. I follow too many people (just under 1,000). But if Twitter doesn’t fix this power user problem, it’s a major problem for Twitter. Presumably, the aim is still for everyone to follow hundreds of accounts that span a wide range of topics they’re interested in. This is what I do. Tech, sports, beer, etc. But I decidedly do not follow accounts related to politics. And yet, that’s my entire feed. Because it’s now everyone’s feed.

That cute little Twitter bird has grown into a giant parrot. And I fear it’s just going to get bigger as Trump trumps. Twitter is still a goldmine of information flowing in real time, but it’s being completely drowned out because we can’t help ourselves. Help us help ourselves, Twitter.