Please kill the replies feature Twitter, it really sucks

Written on 11th September 2008                                                                                                              6 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

Ok, so I have the urge to keep track of when people mention my username on Twitter. Call it vanity, call it the need to stay in touch with other human beings. Ever since Twitter decided to stop sending SMS updates outside North-America and India, I depend on the replies function to see updates about me. At least, that would be the ideal case. After all, the replies function is designed to notice Twitter users whenever an other user refers to you. But in reality, the replies feature sucks. Really bad.

I think it only shows me 60 percent of the times my name is mentioned. You think I’m exaggerating? Compare the screenshot below with the search results on Twitter Search. If you take a good look, you’ll notice some messages from Twitter users @edial, @polledemaagt and @jaapstronks didn’t make it to the replies tab. For what reason? Only Biz and Evan know…

Eureka! The solution!

So here’s a thought. Just a simple one. Why not grab the RSS of the search results and show it on the replies page? I mean, the search feature (Summize’s product) works just fine, so why not use that as the replies feature?

Maybe there are some developing issues I’m missing here. If so, please tell me. Because now I’m tortured by the thought that an annoying problem can be easily solved, but nobody does it.

replies, rss, search, summize, twitter

6 Comments »

Twitter acquires Summize for about $15 million

Written on 15th July 2008                                                                                                              5 COMMENTS
Joop Dorresteijn, East Asia correspondent

Twitter reports on their blog that they acquired Summize, a search engine that indexes twitter posts.
As Twitter co-founder Biz Stone puts it:

“The folks over at Summize discovered Twitter and significantly improved on this idea of filtering and search..”

Techcrunch reports that Twitter hired 5 of the 6 employees, all of them are engineers. The original founder and CEO moves along to a new project. The Summize API will be merged with that of Twitter and integrated under the Twitter brand. Twitter is expected to add search and related features in the near future.

Nobody mentioned numbers, but Silicon Alley Insider reports a total of $15 million, both in stock and cash.

aquirement, summize, twitter

5 Comments »

Twitter and TV make up for the disappeared water cooler

Written on 28th May 2008                                                                                                              0 COMMENTS
Ernst-Jan Pfauth, editor in chief

For me, the digital revolution that has been raging on for quite some years makes perfect sense. I don’t look back at another era of media usage, but I can imagine others do. All those weird Web 2.0 services that fulfill needs people couldn’t think of having ten years ago can make you nostalgic. Right?

I think BBC editor Darren Waters agrees with me. In his dot.life column of May 25, he looks back at those good ol’ water cooler moments. Colleagues used to chit chat about last night’s television show, as they had all watched the same one. But all the new technologies like video-on-demand, DVD boxes, torrents, and YouTube killed that precious daily ritual. Everybody is watching something different.

Yet Waters has now found a new way to discuss the highlights and low points of modern television: Twitter! The microblogging service honors the water cooler as the perfect metaphor. When Waters watched the Eurovision Song Contest a few days ago, he didn’t just turn the tube on. He also browsed to Tweetscan and Summize (Not Summarize, Mr. Waters) to see what others were saying. It’s like putting the TV next to the water cooler. Moreover, people posted links to background stories, which makes watching television and Twitter at the same time “informed viewing”, and that, my dear readers, is “exciting”.

Interesting conclusion by Waters. But it wasn’t the only thing about his article that struck me. Waters is twittering with people not because they’re acquaintances, no, because they’re watching the very same show. Is Twitter moving towards some sort of revamped and improved chat box?

bbc, summize, Television, tweetscan, twitter

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