I'm using Twitter Wrong
February 23, 2017 9:00 AM Subscribe
My Twitter timeline is out of control. I follow friends, etc., but there are like 7 Twitterers I want to keep 100% up with, and it would be super handy if I had a feed merging them, and....doh...I realize I'm using Twitter all wrong. So....should I create a second (lurker) account following only those 7? Or is there a Twitter client (for ipad) that let's me optionally filter all others? Or...?
I believe in Tweetdeck you can make a list and then make that list a separate column that only shows you the tweets of people on the list.
posted by griphus at 9:03 AM on February 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
posted by griphus at 9:03 AM on February 23, 2017 [4 favorites]
In addition to lists, if you really want to know immediately when someone Tweets, you can turn on mobile notifications for them, and you'll get a notification on your phone right away. Annoying if someone Tweets a lot, but useful if they don't (and you want to be 100% sure you see when they do).
posted by primethyme at 9:14 AM on February 23, 2017
posted by primethyme at 9:14 AM on February 23, 2017
Seconding Lists. I don't use them, because I don't mind being a little bit behind on stuff, but they're perfect for your use case.
(Note that Lists can be private or public. You'll probably want the 7-people-I-actually-care-about list to be private.)
posted by tobascodagama at 9:31 AM on February 23, 2017
(Note that Lists can be private or public. You'll probably want the 7-people-I-actually-care-about list to be private.)
posted by tobascodagama at 9:31 AM on February 23, 2017
Yup. Mostly lists, and possibly depending on your app, individual notifications. (Tweetcaster Pro, which I use on my phone, has this - I think that TweetBot, which I use on my iPad does not.) You may also be able to have your app code certain people as certain colors, so they stand out when you scroll through your whole feed, depending what app you use.
Before you ask: No, it does not appear that you can make a list be your default view of Twitter - oh, how I wish it were - but if you can train yourself to switch over to it once a day or whatever to check those seven critical people, it will get you what you want. You can also make the list private if you don't want anyone knowing who's on it. (I can neither confirm nor deny that I have such a list of The People I Love The Best, but if I did, it would be private.)
posted by Stacey at 9:38 AM on February 23, 2017
Before you ask: No, it does not appear that you can make a list be your default view of Twitter - oh, how I wish it were - but if you can train yourself to switch over to it once a day or whatever to check those seven critical people, it will get you what you want. You can also make the list private if you don't want anyone knowing who's on it. (I can neither confirm nor deny that I have such a list of The People I Love The Best, but if I did, it would be private.)
posted by Stacey at 9:38 AM on February 23, 2017
Seconding griphus's suggestion of Tweetdeck. Multiple lists, displayed in their own columns turned Twitter from useless to indispensable for me.
posted by briank at 10:07 AM on February 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by briank at 10:07 AM on February 23, 2017 [2 favorites]
No, it does not appear that you can make a list be your default view of Twitter - oh, how I wish it were
Tweetbot does this. Tap and hold where it says "timeline" and it will pop up your lists.
posted by fedward at 10:35 AM on February 23, 2017
Tweetbot does this. Tap and hold where it says "timeline" and it will pop up your lists.
posted by fedward at 10:35 AM on February 23, 2017
I believe in Tweetdeck you can make a list and then make that list a separate column that only shows you the tweets of people on the list.
Yep, I do this and have one list where I follow 18 people and it's my main view on Tweetdeck. You can also use Tweetdeck to follow hashtags, searches, show your mentions, show your scheduled tweets, or even follow individual users. It's pretty handy. Now going to go get Tweetbot for my phone!
posted by jessamyn at 11:33 AM on February 23, 2017
Yep, I do this and have one list where I follow 18 people and it's my main view on Tweetdeck. You can also use Tweetdeck to follow hashtags, searches, show your mentions, show your scheduled tweets, or even follow individual users. It's pretty handy. Now going to go get Tweetbot for my phone!
posted by jessamyn at 11:33 AM on February 23, 2017
I use the Lists feature for exactly what you're describing (I call it the A List).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:46 AM on February 23, 2017
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 11:46 AM on February 23, 2017
IFTT has some prebuilt recipes that could help you cater your twitter experience to your own needs.
posted by peterpete at 1:42 PM on February 23, 2017
posted by peterpete at 1:42 PM on February 23, 2017
I am just going to repeat tweetdeck and lists. I have a huge follow list on twitter, but the original folks I joined to follow are in a list I put in a low-numbered column. The result is that my lists are things I catch up on, while the stream of everyone I follow is just a feed I occasionally dip into. It's a reasonable compromise in the whole model.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:24 PM on February 23, 2017
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:24 PM on February 23, 2017
Also for phones I use a great little free android app called Twidere.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:25 PM on February 23, 2017
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 4:25 PM on February 23, 2017
Response by poster: Tweetdeck works well, but I find myself wishing I could make the List column occupy the whole page. But then I fired up plain old vanilla Twitter.com, selected "List", and there I had what I wanted: a normal Twitter feed, but just with the seven people I really want to follow.
This is a LOT more efficient than hitting 7 browser bookmarks for these feeds several times per day!
Thanks!
(I still need to check out peterpete's recipes).
posted by Quisp Lover at 5:28 PM on February 23, 2017
This is a LOT more efficient than hitting 7 browser bookmarks for these feeds several times per day!
Thanks!
(I still need to check out peterpete's recipes).
posted by Quisp Lover at 5:28 PM on February 23, 2017
Response by poster: I don't love Tweeteck for one reason:
Unlike the normal Twitter feed, it shows a finite number of tweets. When you push/scroll to show more, it flips over to what's essentially a "page 2", and brings you in in the middle of those Tweets. So you need to scroll back up to come back to the first tweet of the second pagination, and if you overdo it, you can easily find yourself back on page 1.
It's VERY kludgey, at least on an iPad....
posted by Quisp Lover at 9:24 PM on February 23, 2017
Unlike the normal Twitter feed, it shows a finite number of tweets. When you push/scroll to show more, it flips over to what's essentially a "page 2", and brings you in in the middle of those Tweets. So you need to scroll back up to come back to the first tweet of the second pagination, and if you overdo it, you can easily find yourself back on page 1.
It's VERY kludgey, at least on an iPad....
posted by Quisp Lover at 9:24 PM on February 23, 2017
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posted by capricorn at 9:02 AM on February 23, 2017 [14 favorites]