Help me read Twitter without actually being a Twitterer

May 12, 2011 7:18 PM

I like reading some people's Twitter feeds, but I don't want to join Twitter. I used to be able to subscribe to individual Twitter feeds via RSS, but Twitter doesn't support direct RSS feeds any more. They recommend "using a 3rd party service." What does this mean? And how can I, a somewhat technologically clueless individual, read individual Twitter feeds on my Google homepage?
posted by That's Numberwang! to computers & internet (8 answers total)

give Twitterfall a look
posted by geekyguy at 7:26 PM on May 12, 2011

Perhaps this will help.

Like you, I read Twitter via RSS, and find their deliberate breaking of their individual RSS feeds really annoying. However, I've somehow managed to trick Twitter into serving me Old Twitter (not sure how; perhaps by using a different browser) and am able to add RSS feeds to Google Reader again. This is a temporary solution, though: there's a banner at the top of the Old Twitter page saying it won't be around for much longer. Twitter did ask me to fill out a survey recently, asking why I haven't switched to New Twitter; hopefully if they get enough feedback about the RSS feeds they'll do something about it.
posted by hot soup girl at 7:32 PM on May 12, 2011

Twitter feeds work fine on Google reader.
posted by COD at 7:33 PM on May 12, 2011

Do you use Google Reader? I'm subscribed to several Twitter feeds there that are still updating. Although they've removed the RSS links, you can still add a subscription by pasting the basic profile URL of the person you want into the "Add Subscription" box.

And by "basic profile URL" I mean:

http://twitter.com/conanobrien

...as opposed to:

http://twitter.com/#!/conanobrien
posted by Rhaomi at 7:35 PM on May 12, 2011 [2 favorites]

My first choice would be to be able to add feeds to my Google homepage. I have not been a user of Google Reader, but I am not opposed to becoming one if it proves to be the least painful way to make Twitter give me what I want.

Oddly, I have been subscribed to RSS feeds for Conan O'Brien and @hellobuglers since before Twitter made the switch, and these are still updating. Should I assume that these will stop updating eventually?
posted by That's Numberwang! at 7:43 PM on May 12, 2011

That's Numberwang!: "My first choice would be to be able to add feeds to my Google homepage. "

If you mean iGoogle, there's a Google-made Google Reader gadget in the iGoogle gallery.

google google google

That's Numberwang!: "Should I assume that these will stop updating eventually?"

No clue, but I sure hope not.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:04 PM on May 12, 2011 [1 favorite]

You know, "joining twitter" doesn't actually require you to tweet or participate or provide personal information or cultivate reciprocal relationships. So unless there is some other reason to "not joint twitter" then really, the simplest answer is just to join twitter, follow the people you want to follow, and add the twitter widget to your google homepage. Methinks you are looking for a complex solution to a simple problem.
posted by Kololo at 8:50 PM on May 12, 2011 [7 favorites]

You can get an RSS feed from anyone's twitter by using this: (where "xxx" is the twitter user name.)

http://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline.rss?screen_name=xxx
posted by DizzyLeaf at 6:32 AM on May 13, 2011 [4 favorites]