Twitter has been around since 2006, and since then has improved its interface and its service. With over 300 million active users, you’d think that for that next round of improvements, a little crowdsourcing would be in order. Or maybe they could just ask me. Here, then, are a few unsolicited improvements. Here is Twitter’s wiki, in case you’d like to read about its history.
*And by “we,” I mean “I.”
Blocking
You can already easily block users who bother you on Twitter with a couple of clicks of your mouse. What I’m referring to are annoying types of messages, such as people who only tweet about chihuahuas during #ChihuahuaChat. Perhaps, as Adam Khan suggests (see below), a better chat solution that doesn’t clog up users’ streams. Adam’s other suggestions are fab, too.
https://twitter.com/Khanoisseur/status/610460043700531200
Opt-in DMs
Recently, Twitter decided in its infinite wisdom that LONGER direct messages would be a good idea. Excuse me, did anyone ask me? No. How about this: if I like you, I can turn on direct messages? This would save us all the trouble of unfollowing those who decide that within 10 seconds of following you I’d want to follow you on Facebook, LinkedIn, plus buy your friendship bracelets on Etsy. Because come on! DMs are horrible enough already without making them longer. By the way, if you’re a newbie, here are my Twitter: Top Ten Terms and Power Tips.
"Tweets with #images receive 18% more clicks, 89% more favorites and 150% more retweets."http://t.co/4RiCJwiL2O pic.twitter.com/uJ5cbad9Od
— HubSpot (@HubSpot) June 10, 2015
Easier Image Sharing
Do you know how long it took to figure out how to share an image on Twitter? And then to schedule those tweets with images? Not so straightforward. Of course, tweets with images or video get shared much more, so everyone has to learn how to do this.
Fix the Number One Mistake Everyone Makes on Twitter
Yes, we all feel special because we know that we have to put a “.” or a quotation mark in front of that “@” for it to be seen. But now that we feel special, how about fixing it, Twitter? Wouldn’t that make Twitter a tiny bit more accessible? Because people really don’t get this! Even seasoned users are surprised by this, as Gary Vee explains in his Slideshare, above.
#Discover tab finally goes from @twitter for iPad too. Perhaps, the biggest loss to content discovery for me after Google Reader was killed.
— Prem Piyush Goyal (@prempiyush) May 6, 2015
The Discover Tab
Bring it back, Twitter. It was a great way to discover content! The replacements (recaps and MagicRecs) are dumb.
Take a Cue from Pinterest
In general, how about taking a cue from Pinterest? Here’s a look behind the scenes at Pinterest, by the way. Nearly every day I log into Pinterest and there’s something cool, such as what’s trending on search (see above), promoted pins, or the new “buy it now” button. And although I love Twitter, I’d like to see more innovation, or at the very least something that makes me laugh out loud.
Got an Upgrade for Twitter?
I’m a huge fan of twitter. And I hope that you are, too. If you have an improvement or upgrade, I’d love to hear from you! Leave me a comment.
How bad is it that I didn’t realize the Discover Tab was gone.
That 1,000,000 character limit in DMs is a huge mistake. Opting in would be good.
I do like their analytics, though.
I guess I didn’t think about it.
Nice post.
Hi Bridget!
If you didn’t use the Discover tab, you might not have noticed it was gone.
Yes on the 1,000,000 character limit on DMs. Now nobody will read them at ALL. It was bad enough before.
Thank you for your comments!
Carol
Is there any monitoring for spam? I realize it is an arbitrary call but some review would be better than none.
I believe that Twitter pays attention when we report spammers. I could only find instances of what constitutes spam, but not how Twitter monitors. See https://support.twitter.com/articles/18311
Thanks for the comment, Kyle!
Carol
Great post Carol and excellent suggestion regarding favorites (which I use as a bookmark).
Hi Sandy,
Favorites can mean so many different things, can’t they? Sometimes they mean “I saw your tweet.” Other times they mean “thank you!” I like the idea of using them as a bookmark.
Thanks for stopping by!
Carol