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10 August 2017 by Amanda Rush 46 Comments

If you spend a lot of time on Twitter, you’re probably familiar with Twitter threads. They show up in your timeline because either someone quotes or retweets someone else’s threaded tweet, or, if you’re lucky, you see all the tweets in the right order because (a) someone takes the time to thread them properly by sending one tweet, and then replying to the original tweet with the rest, and (b) you either follow the threader, or their account is public and you have it on a list, so you see the tweets as they come in. If you’re on Facebook or some other social network, and one of your friends wants you to see the thread, they’ll share one of the tweets from the thread in the hope that you’ll click on it and read it. But Twitter threads are not good for all sorts of reasons, and because I feel rather strongly about the subject, I decided to write a ranticle about it.

Why do people thread in the first place?

People thread on Twitter because Twitter’s 140-character limit is almost never enough when you really need to get something off your chest. Also, Twitter, (including third-party applications), has an incredibly simple posting interface without a lot of distraction involved. The fact that you can use a third-party app on your phone which may have an even simpler posting interface, through which you can fire off tweets at the drop of a hat, makes it even better. When you add up a 140-character limit, plus a really simple posting interface, it’s easy to see why Twitter threads have become as popular as they are.

Still, I would like to discourage you from Twitter threading. In the strongest possible terms.

Threading might be great if you’re the one posting the content. I use the word “might” because whether it’s great for you or not is debatable. But if you’re trying to read it, that’s an entirely different story. For one thing, it takes a lot of time and effort to scroll back through tweets, and that’s assuming you’ve stumbled on the original tweet that started the thread. If not, you’re stuck in the hell that is Twitter’s user experience trying to scroll back through tweets. If someone quotes a tweet in your thread, the thread is now broken, which makes the effort needed to put into reading an entire thread much more involved. It means that you might have to spend more time in Twitter’s horrible user experience hellscape trying to find out where the thread begins because someone quoted in the middle of a thread. Second, since Twitter threads are by their nature chunks of ideas, it’s realy difficult to cite a thread in such a way that keeps all the comments in context. Since tweets are now making up a large part of what gets reported by news outlets of all stripes, that means this has become more important, both for those reporting the news and for those reading it.

Next, there’s the problem of linking to this content. Since each tweet has it’s own link, and that link is based on a user ID, linking to all the pieces of content that make up a thread is somewhat like collecting individual rice grains once you’ve dropped the bag of rice. Not easy. And depending on how many tweets are in the thread, (I’ve seen threads of over 300 of them), a metric ton of work.

Then, there’s the part about how the content you create is yours and not some corporation’s. There are a lot of good ideas floating around Twitter, (and other social networks for that matter), but as long as that content is being posted on Twitter and nowhere else, you don’t own that content. If Twitter decides to change its link structure, that content may be lost.

This is important for people, but it’s also important for businesses. Posting your content on Twitter in the form of a thread, (or really, on any social network), instead of your website means you no longer own that content. It’s like going and setting up a stall at the local flee market and calling it your office. You’ve invested time in creating that content, you should own it. It should have a permanent link that won’t change unless you want it to, and which anyone can link to. Then, you can syndicate that content to Twitter, or Facebook, or anywhere else you like, and even if someone isn’t on any of those networks, (believe it or not, there are people who don’t use social media, and have no desire to start using it), can read and benefit from your content.

But what if I’ve already threaded on Twitter?

Fortunately, there are some tools you can use to collect all the parts of your thread and turn them in to blog post for later linking and enjoyment. Spooler is an excellent choice for converting Twitter threads into blog posts. You can start with the last tweet in a thread, and it will also grab any videos and images you’ve posted to Twitter that are part of the thread. If you find that you’re live-tweeting a talk or something similar, Noter Live is a great option which will, (once you’re done tweeting), allow you to copy all your tweets from the event into one post, along with including the speaker’s Twitter handle if they have one. If it’s the feedback you’re after, you can always enable webmention on your site. Popular web platforms like WordPress and Drupal have plugins to do this, and you can use a service like Bridgy to syndicate your content to the social networks, and then pull in reactions and responses to your own site so you have them all in one place, coupled with the content you created.

While I’m pretty certain this one post isn’t going to stop you from threading tweets, I hope that you’ll consider the people who are reading the content you’re creating, and instead of creating a thread that’s not even enjoyable to read on Twitter, you’ll at least consider turning it into a blog post afterwords.


Comments

  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 17:41

    CC @redcrew

    Reply
  • James Huff says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 19:26

    James Huff reposted this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • andrea_r says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 18:43

    andrea_r reposted this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • David Greenwald says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 21:57

    Write both! Twitter clicks are abysmal and blog posts live on Google (and FB) forever. 2 audiences.

    Reply
  • Jose Castaneda says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 23:41

    Jose Castaneda reposted this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • BobWP says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 00:38

    BobWP liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 22:00

    Thanks for link to Noterlive. Not sure I’ve heard of it before, have you used it? I knew about Spooler and Bridgy.

    Reply
  • Jeff says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 22:12

    Jeff reposted this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 21:57

    Well done, Amanda. Love how you explain reasons why you don’t want to create Twitter threads. And if you do, how to convert to blog posts.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 21:54

    Thinking of writing a Twitter thread? Think again, says @cswordpress. I agree!

    Reply
  • David Bell says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 00:39

    David Bell liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 00:39

    DeborahEdwards-Onoro liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Jeff says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 00:39

    Jeff liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Jeffrey de Wit says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 00:39

    Jeffrey de Wit liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Ihor Vorotnov says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 01:49

    Ihor Vorotnov liked this article on twitter.com.

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  • Claire Brotherton says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 05:16

    .@franzvitulli this reminds me of your @wcedin talk ?

    Reply
  • Kevin Erickson says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 05:17

    Kevin Erickson liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Felix Arntz says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 05:24

    Or get the best of both worlds with Publishiza. ?

    Reply
  • Jörgen Löw says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 05:49

    Jörgen Löw liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 21:54

    Thinking of writing a Twitter thread? Think again, says @cswordpress. I agree!

    Reply
  • David Greenwald says: @ twitter.com
    10 August 2017 at 21:57

    Write both! Twitter clicks are abysmal and blog posts live on Google (and FB) forever. 2 audiences.

    Reply
  • Robert Mening says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 10:02

    Robert Mening reposted this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Robert Mening says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 10:19

    Robert Mening liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Robert Mening says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 10:04

    Yeah, but also make sure to make your paragraphs readable, just like tweets. Huge chunks of text without line breaks = bad readability. T.

    Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 10:26

    Agreed. That’s a topic for another post. Paragraphs on the web v. printed text.

    Reply
  • L. Legendary says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 13:48

    L. Legendary reposted this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Amanda J. Rush says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 13:52

    Glad you liked it. 🙂

    Reply
  • L. Legendary says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 13:49

    Good post, Amanda. Never considered that my tweets really do not belong to me. I’ll check out those solutions you recommended.

    Reply
  • Alex McCabe says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 14:50

    Alex McCabe liked this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Sarah Jevnikar says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 14:34

    Sarah Jevnikar reposted this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Kara Goldfinch says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 14:30

    Couldn’t have put it better.

    Reply
  • Alex McCabe says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 14:36

    Alex McCabe reposted this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Kara Goldfinch says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 14:30

    Couldn’t have put it better.

    Reply
  • Hunter Hoke says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 16:33

    So true.

    Reply
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  • Michael Beckwith says: @ twitter.com
    11 August 2017 at 23:33

    Michael Beckwith mentioned this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Pingback: In Case You Missed It – Issue 23 – AmDee WordPress Headlines Site
  • Lisa Clarke says: @ twitter.com
    14 August 2017 at 10:22

    Lisa Clarke mentioned this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • Lisa Clarke says: @ twitter.com
    14 August 2017 at 10:22

    Lisa Clarke mentioned this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    18 August 2017 at 13:43

    DeborahEdwards-Onoro mentioned this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    18 August 2017 at 13:43

    DeborahEdwards-Onoro mentioned this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    1 September 2017 at 08:40

    DeborahEdwards-Onoro mentioned this article on twitter.com.

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    3 September 2017 at 09:29

    Beyond people losing interest in long tweet threads, here are more reasons to write a blog post. customerservant.com/next-time-your…

    Reply
  • DeborahEdwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    7 November 2017 at 08:44

    Yes, please.

    Reply
  • Deborah Edwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    13 November 2017 at 14:24

    My colleague Amanda wrote an excellent post on why you want to think twice about tweetstorms (AKA as Twitter threads).

    Reply
  • Deborah Edwards-Onoro says: @ twitter.com
    13 November 2017 at 14:24

    My colleague Amanda wrote an excellent post on why you want to think twice about tweetstorms (AKA as Twitter threads).

    Reply

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