Any downsides to joining Twitter?
March 3, 2022 9:23 AM Subscribe
I have abandoned using Facebook and Instagram and generally loathe social media. However, I like a certain artist who only posts on Twitter. Until last week I could open their page and look at all the art I wanted.
Suddenly, now Twitter demands that I sign in after looking at a couple of tweets. When I link from MetaFilter I am also not able to read a string of tweets without being bugged to sign in.
Are there any workarounds to keep reading or am I forced to sign up? Are there any reasons why I would regret signing up for an account? Like ad tracking and collecting personal info? Any advice about setup to keep it as private as possible? I feel a little silly worrying about it but social media but I appreciate any reassurance or warnings.
Suddenly, now Twitter demands that I sign in after looking at a couple of tweets. When I link from MetaFilter I am also not able to read a string of tweets without being bugged to sign in.
Are there any workarounds to keep reading or am I forced to sign up? Are there any reasons why I would regret signing up for an account? Like ad tracking and collecting personal info? Any advice about setup to keep it as private as possible? I feel a little silly worrying about it but social media but I appreciate any reassurance or warnings.
Response by poster: I only have a desktop computer, no smart phone at all. I know, I know, I'm so unsocial I don't have a phone, so no mobile advice will work for me.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:31 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:31 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
On desktop, the Chrome extension "Behind the Overlay" works to get rid of the screen that demands you log in. Sometimes I need to refresh the page but it works pretty well.
posted by little king trashmouth at 9:32 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by little king trashmouth at 9:32 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
With a throw away email address and ad blocking (privacy badger, adblock plus), there probably aren't many big downsides. But, this also seems weird. Perhaps try blocking cookies or a different browser? If you're particularly paranoid, making a viewing-twitter browser instance that isn't used for anything else is an option. (How you do that will depend on your browser and OS.)
(Personally, I like twitter more than any other social media that is popular. There are some advantages to actually signing up and following accounts.)
posted by eotvos at 9:34 AM on March 3, 2022
(Personally, I like twitter more than any other social media that is popular. There are some advantages to actually signing up and following accounts.)
posted by eotvos at 9:34 AM on March 3, 2022
Response by poster: I'm on Mac OS X El Capitan, using Firefox and a VPN.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:38 AM on March 3, 2022
posted by a humble nudibranch at 9:38 AM on March 3, 2022
I personally find twitter's interface to be fine. It holds the accounts I want to look in the search on the top right, and it's easy to just go down the list. I have a personal twitter account, but it's for automated messages from various programs I have written and don't consider it to be my 'homepage' or anything. I also don't follow anyone, just go directly to pages from the search.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:38 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:38 AM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I do not have an account and can read without limitations using incognito mode.
posted by fies at 9:39 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by fies at 9:39 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
I've never used it, but you might look into Nitter, which serves Twitter content in a privacy focused manner.
posted by mezzanayne at 10:04 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by mezzanayne at 10:04 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
You can also just make an account, not include any personal information, and follow whoever you want. My Twitter is totally anonymous.
posted by bleep at 10:17 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by bleep at 10:17 AM on March 3, 2022 [4 favorites]
I have this issue as well because I don't have a Twitter account — when you get the forced login pop up you can delete the cookies for Twitter in your browser. Just close the tab, delete the cookies, then go back and you will have access again without the popup. I probably do this once a week instead of signing up because I am lazy.
posted by blacktshirtandjeans at 10:24 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by blacktshirtandjeans at 10:24 AM on March 3, 2022 [3 favorites]
My Twitter experience is that if you don't follow anyone, you don't see anything. If you do follow you fav artist, you'll see his tweets, and some tweets that reference him, and nothing more.
posted by SemiSalt at 10:41 AM on March 3, 2022
posted by SemiSalt at 10:41 AM on March 3, 2022
One tip if you do sign up: When you're looking at the Twitter account of an artist who mostly posts pictures or videos of their work, click the "Media" tab to see only their tweets with attached media. Then you can scroll through their page without getting as many interruptions like "Topics to follow" or "Other accounts we think you'll like." (This works if you're looking directly at somebody's account, as opposed to your "Home" timeline of all the accounts you're following.)
posted by lisa g at 10:55 AM on March 3, 2022
posted by lisa g at 10:55 AM on March 3, 2022
I'd just like to confirm that blacktshirtandjeans suggestion will fix the issue. I'd assumed I was getting those popups because Twitter had decided to limit viewing access for any non-signed in visitors rather than giving you a cookie-managed grace period.
posted by figurant at 11:15 AM on March 3, 2022
posted by figurant at 11:15 AM on March 3, 2022
Seconding Nitter + Privacy Redirect.
The redirect extension is only useful for automatically changing all other Twitter URLs you may come across while browsing, if you only care about that one artist then a simple browser bookmark of their Twitter page using a Nitter instance (e.g. https://nitter.net/ARTIST) is all you need.
posted by Bangaioh at 1:05 PM on March 3, 2022
The redirect extension is only useful for automatically changing all other Twitter URLs you may come across while browsing, if you only care about that one artist then a simple browser bookmark of their Twitter page using a Nitter instance (e.g. https://nitter.net/ARTIST) is all you need.
posted by Bangaioh at 1:05 PM on March 3, 2022
My Twitter experience is that if you don't follow anyone, you don't see anything. If you do follow you fav artist, you'll see his tweets, and some tweets that reference him, and nothing more.
Sadly, Twitter isn't like this anymore and has gone the way of the Facebook algorithmic feed. I don't think there's a way to turn this off.
I still get the classic only-people-I-actually-follow experience, but only by using Tweetbot on my phone.
posted by neckro23 at 1:09 PM on March 3, 2022
Sadly, Twitter isn't like this anymore and has gone the way of the Facebook algorithmic feed. I don't think there's a way to turn this off.
I still get the classic only-people-I-actually-follow experience, but only by using Tweetbot on my phone.
posted by neckro23 at 1:09 PM on March 3, 2022
Sadly, Twitter isn't like this anymore and has gone the way of the Facebook algorithmic feed. I don't think there's a way to turn this off.
Click the little bunch of star looking things at the top right of the feed on the home page, and you will see "latest tweets" instead of the stupid algo view. It will switch back, but that doesn't happen to me that often any more, and you just click the stars again to see "latest".
posted by oneirodynia at 1:17 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Click the little bunch of star looking things at the top right of the feed on the home page, and you will see "latest tweets" instead of the stupid algo view. It will switch back, but that doesn't happen to me that often any more, and you just click the stars again to see "latest".
posted by oneirodynia at 1:17 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have a Twitter account but rarely access the site. I get the feeds of a few favorites via Feedbin ($5 a month, well worth it), so I can read what they write and, if I want to respond, follow a thread, or see the original tweet I just click the headline and go right to it in the web browser. Feedbin also lets you follow email newsletters and RSS feeds. There are probably other services out there that let you follow individual Twitter accounts without actually having to log into the service.
posted by lhauser at 1:56 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by lhauser at 1:56 PM on March 3, 2022
Best answer: This plugin works in Firefox and on a Mac.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/twitter-without-logging-in/
Its a little effort, you click the plugin button when the popup comes up and then you can keep on scrolling.
posted by Snuffman at 3:00 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/twitter-without-logging-in/
Its a little effort, you click the plugin button when the popup comes up and then you can keep on scrolling.
posted by Snuffman at 3:00 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
for mobile, if you click ‘log in’ or ‘sign up’ on the first popup, it’ll take you to a second to enter your details - click x to close that and you’ll be back where you left off and able to keep scrolling (for a while - the popup comes back every 10 minutes or so). probably works for desktop as well.
posted by inire at 4:21 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by inire at 4:21 PM on March 3, 2022
If you want an old school, non-algorithmically generated Twitter experience without endless ads and other junk, I highly recommend a paid Twitter client like Twitterrific. I only see the tweets of people I follow, in order of when they were posted and it isn’t an aggravating hot mess like Twitter itself has become.
posted by rambling wanderlust at 6:30 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by rambling wanderlust at 6:30 PM on March 3, 2022
When I go twitter.com, it instantly asks for a login.
Given there is a war going in, and peple are using twitter, this seems... unacceptable.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 7:42 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
Given there is a war going in, and peple are using twitter, this seems... unacceptable.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 7:42 PM on March 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I do not have an account and can read without limitations using incognito mode.
I do not have an account and I HAVE encountered the OPP's problem, but only on mobile (Android/Chrome). Twitter absolutely changed something about a month ago, and made it harder to read via web and w/o an account.
When I go twitter.com, it instantly asks for a login.
Hasn't it always done that? Twitter's front page has always been a useless login-only interface, like Facebook's. But you can go straight to particular user/feed (e.g. https://twitter.com/planet4589 ) to see their feed, which has worked fine for a very very long time until about a month ago.
With a throw away email address
Something I learned in a recent podcast about RCS is that Twitter account setup requires a phone number. Googling that just now seems to confirm it, especially if you skim past the obvious "here's how to do it w/o phone" articles and get to the stories of how it doesn't actually work.
Can you tell I've been annoyed by this too?
posted by intermod at 8:10 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
I do not have an account and I HAVE encountered the OPP's problem, but only on mobile (Android/Chrome). Twitter absolutely changed something about a month ago, and made it harder to read via web and w/o an account.
When I go twitter.com, it instantly asks for a login.
Hasn't it always done that? Twitter's front page has always been a useless login-only interface, like Facebook's. But you can go straight to particular user/feed (e.g. https://twitter.com/planet4589 ) to see their feed, which has worked fine for a very very long time until about a month ago.
With a throw away email address
Something I learned in a recent podcast about RCS is that Twitter account setup requires a phone number. Googling that just now seems to confirm it, especially if you skim past the obvious "here's how to do it w/o phone" articles and get to the stories of how it doesn't actually work.
Can you tell I've been annoyed by this too?
posted by intermod at 8:10 PM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: I tried clearing cookies and no luck, then tried Nitter and got a backend looking mishmash of directories and giant graphics. But the Firefox add on https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/twitter-without-logging-in/ worked fine and I was able to scroll back many months. Thanks for all your suggestions and I agree that during a war is a terrible time for Twitter to get all pissy about signing in.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:51 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by a humble nudibranch at 8:51 PM on March 3, 2022
Yes, you can look at any twitter account without an account of your own. Don't start at twitter.com, start with someone's account.
Yes, you MUST click the stars in the upper right of the center column if you have an account and it it to "Latest Tweets". And keep switching it back every time it changes, and eventually it leaves you there.
Then go to the three dots at the bottom of the left column, and then find "Privacy and Safety" and then go through all those submenus to set things as you want. There are probably other menus you want to go through, too. I have mine set so I only see tweets from people I follow, in reverse chronological order. Nothing is thrust at me except in the right column, which is easy to not click on.
If you follow an account that is feeding stuff you don't like, unfollow it. Look at someone's account page before you follow them to see what they do. Don't be afraid to unfollow. Or mute, if you don't want to unfollow. You can make things you don't like disappear.
Every time I see an ad, I click in the upper right corner and say I Don't Like It. Every time I see "who to follow" or "topics to follow" I click upper right and "see less often". I keep telling twitter relentlessly what I want to see, and slowly it becomes that.
I love my twitter. It's light and fluffy (mostly) and has information I enjoy and people I feel are friends. You might enjoy it too.
posted by hippybear at 8:52 PM on March 3, 2022
Yes, you MUST click the stars in the upper right of the center column if you have an account and it it to "Latest Tweets". And keep switching it back every time it changes, and eventually it leaves you there.
Then go to the three dots at the bottom of the left column, and then find "Privacy and Safety" and then go through all those submenus to set things as you want. There are probably other menus you want to go through, too. I have mine set so I only see tweets from people I follow, in reverse chronological order. Nothing is thrust at me except in the right column, which is easy to not click on.
If you follow an account that is feeding stuff you don't like, unfollow it. Look at someone's account page before you follow them to see what they do. Don't be afraid to unfollow. Or mute, if you don't want to unfollow. You can make things you don't like disappear.
Every time I see an ad, I click in the upper right corner and say I Don't Like It. Every time I see "who to follow" or "topics to follow" I click upper right and "see less often". I keep telling twitter relentlessly what I want to see, and slowly it becomes that.
I love my twitter. It's light and fluffy (mostly) and has information I enjoy and people I feel are friends. You might enjoy it too.
posted by hippybear at 8:52 PM on March 3, 2022
Incognito mode works for me, but strangely haven't needed it for the last few days.
posted by Coaticass at 10:45 PM on March 3, 2022
posted by Coaticass at 10:45 PM on March 3, 2022
tried Nitter and got a backend looking mishmash of directories and giant graphics
That's surprising: unlike twitter.com, Nitter instances don't need javascript enabled to display properly, I have no idea what went wrong there.
It has a simple, clutter free interface and by optionally enabling cookies it's possible to customise the themeing and functionality (turn on light mode, enable infinite scrolling, etc).
posted by Bangaioh at 4:19 AM on March 4, 2022
That's surprising: unlike twitter.com, Nitter instances don't need javascript enabled to display properly, I have no idea what went wrong there.
It has a simple, clutter free interface and by optionally enabling cookies it's possible to customise the themeing and functionality (turn on light mode, enable infinite scrolling, etc).
posted by Bangaioh at 4:19 AM on March 4, 2022
A quick way to avoid their algorithmic presentation is to use Lists. If you add the accounts you're interested in following to a list, the list will simply show reverse chronological posts with no ads. I have no idea why Twitter hasn't "fixed" this yet.
Of course, you need an account for this, but as others have said, a twitter account is not oppressive.
posted by pjenks at 7:44 AM on March 4, 2022
Of course, you need an account for this, but as others have said, a twitter account is not oppressive.
posted by pjenks at 7:44 AM on March 4, 2022
for mobile, if you click ‘log in’ or ‘sign up’ on the first popup, it’ll take you to a second to enter your details - click x to close that and you’ll be back where you left off and able to keep scrolling (for a while - the popup comes back every 10 minutes or so). probably works for desktop as well.I've seen the same recent change of Twitter aggressively demanding logins after a short period of browsing on both mobile and desktop. And hitting the 'log in' button and then the back button does get rid of it for a while.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 4:55 PM on March 4, 2022
In my experience, Twitter keeps changing the settings as to how much you can see without an account.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 2:33 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Lesser Shrew at 2:33 PM on March 5, 2022 [2 favorites]
UPDATE regarding looking at specific Twitter accounts without being logged in, it seems like Twitter made some sort of step change in the last few days because it just got harder on mobile. Previously, as described above, you could look at a few tweets (~4) and then it would pop up a "hey log in" message that would block further viewing. As discussed above, viewing via Android Chrome in incognito mode would work around that. As of a few days ago, now even the incognito mode is generating the blocking popup for me.
I guess I need to start with Nitter.
posted by intermod at 9:18 AM on May 16, 2022
I guess I need to start with Nitter.
posted by intermod at 9:18 AM on May 16, 2022
The workaround of continuing through to the login page, then going back to the tweet still works on mobile for me, both on regular Chrome and in incognito.
posted by Busy Old Fool at 11:33 PM on May 23, 2022
posted by Busy Old Fool at 11:33 PM on May 23, 2022
I'm copying over something that I learned from another AskMefi thread. User inire actually stated this above, but I missed it. Flag their post as a good answer!
When browsing Twitter anonymously (without an account or login), you can get past their annoying login message! Just hit the login button when prompted, then X out of the resulting window, and you will be returned to whatever you were browsing when the nag window popped up.
Jeez-O-Pete, I have been struggling around that stupid Twitter popup for like a full year now. Nitter.net, private/incognito windows, scrolling really fast past the "popup spot", so many coping mechanisms just because I don't want to have to login and feed the algorithms, rather just read anonymously. The popup doesn't have an "X" on it, but all this time I didn't know that I could just do what is described above. With two clicks I can resume reading!
posted by intermod at 8:34 PM on August 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
When browsing Twitter anonymously (without an account or login), you can get past their annoying login message! Just hit the login button when prompted, then X out of the resulting window, and you will be returned to whatever you were browsing when the nag window popped up.
Jeez-O-Pete, I have been struggling around that stupid Twitter popup for like a full year now. Nitter.net, private/incognito windows, scrolling really fast past the "popup spot", so many coping mechanisms just because I don't want to have to login and feed the algorithms, rather just read anonymously. The popup doesn't have an "X" on it, but all this time I didn't know that I could just do what is described above. With two clicks I can resume reading!
posted by intermod at 8:34 PM on August 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by AndrewInDC at 9:28 AM on March 3, 2022 [2 favorites]