Twitter Integration for New Threads

Something just occurred to me.

In expanding the model that I just presented above, and since anyone interested would need to have an account (could be automatic based on bridging our existing accounts with the service), it would be possible for example, to do the following:

1.) go into my LQ twit profile, and elect to *follow* the Slackware, Slackware Installation, LFS, Linux - N00bie, Linux - Security, Other *NIX, and Programming forums. Oh, and of course, LQ announcements too

Whenever there is a post in any of those threads, my little tweety client on my desktop will scroll those and I'll know immediately that someone needs help on a subject I can assist with.

2.) And here's the real kewl part....

Since you would be bridging everyone's accounts with this twit-alike for LQ, I could also choose to follow the postings of any LQ'er in virtually realtime. i.e., I could choose to follow GrapefruitGirl, coz there's always pearls of wisdom Sasha's posts, and Jeremy, coz you da LQ man, and Dive, coz he's usually got something interesting and informative to say, and Eric and Robby and all the other folks who usually have something to say that I want to actually follow.

Pretty kewl eh?

I'm not just blowin' steam up yer hoo hoo either here. I'd be happy to volunteer to assist in the implementation if you like.

This would be a unique offering that, as far as I know, no one has bothered to implement on such a scale.

It's worth thinking about Jeremy. Heh. You could call it the twicker service, twilq, talque, or brand it in some other fun and interesting way.

And most of all, most everyone here knows what twitter is, and how it works, even if we don't have a use for it, so it wouldn't be like, having to train everyone to use OSQA.net like offerings.

Well, I hope that helps

Kindest regards,

.

Originally Posted by jeremy FWIW, you can already get an RSS feed for any arbitrary individual forum or group of fora. We considered having a StatusNet for LQ but don't have any definitive implementation plans at this time. --jeremy

Yes I know already, but pointing that out for others is prolly a good idea nevertheless.

In fact, you had to personally assist me in customizing that capability if you remember I currently use that capability for following the Slackware forums and get an email notification of all Slackware forum updates

but it's not as clean as my suggestion, IMO.

Originally Posted by tallship I don't. I have no use for twitter, and frankly, no one cares to really know when I'm sitting on a patio picking my nose and eating my burgers (sic). There are other methods Jeremy which, IMO, are better suited for me to use in keeping abreast of LQ activity - ZR threads, RSS, etc. Now, I *would* be very interested in using a mini-twit sort of thing that LQ runs, which is specific to LQ, where each forum has it's own account name and I can choose to follow those particular forums, and I think you should set one up - it's a relatively trivial matter. We've had many discussions about such a capability (to follow certain forums only), and whenever the subject comes up people are VERY interested. But listening to a bunch of twits twalking about whatever useless things they have to say about themselves, and sifting through that garbage to glean the LQ nuggets which I seek (or creating yet another twit account just to follow one big, totally inclusive, LQ new thread creations), is not something that is going to happen on this end. <snip> I hope that helps .

While Twitter can certainly be used to discuss the nature of your lunch, most people I interact with on Twitter understand others are not be interested in that information. On the other hand, last night I posted about a tech issue I was having and received several helpful responses almost immediately. Like email, web sites and IRC before it, Twitter can be useful or a waste of time. Find good people to follow and Twitter is a valuable tool. Follow a bunch of celebrities and you can pickle yourself in their banter. Your choice.

The larger point is since you can choose who to follow on Twitter, you can choose to see what you want to see.

The other aspect is diluting the forums community. While it may not be many, and in may not happen quickly, I daresay you will see a small but steady bleed of readers from the forum since they can just monitor the twitter feed. I have seen this happen to businesses that have outsourced their blog comments to places like Disques. Thjey lost the interactivity and ultimately contact with their user base to a significant degree. Just something to keep in mind.

(And ther are those like my neighbour who was here while I was reading this and asked (not unreasonably) "Why would they do that? If I wanted to post my problem or whatever on Twitter I'de have used Twitter in the first place.")

As we've implemented it I'd actually contend the opposite is true. By allowing members to digest LQ content in multiple forms, we encourage more participation. Many people have their twitter clients open all day and offering a dedicated twitter feed that can be easily filtered on the client end means members can quickly be alerted to new threads pertaining to topics that interest them. Note that this is a one way syndication from LQ to twitter, which means that you can't ask a question on twitter and get them answered on LQ; all participation and interaction remains here at LQ and we have absolutely no plans to outsource or change that. Thanks for the feedback. If anyone has any additional thoughts on the subject I'm certainly interested in hearing it.

--jeremy

Originally Posted by jeremy As we've implemented it I'd actually contend the opposite is true.

+100000000

I'm too lazy to periodically scan through the forums for interesting threads, but now I just use the latest threads feed (I don't use the Twitter feed, but the RSS feed basically does the same thing) and can easily see all the new threads that I haven't seen before. If I can answer it, I do, if it's interesting for me, I subscribe to it, and if not, I just mark them as read in the feed reader.

And the best part is that it's impossible to miss a single thread, no matter when is was posted or in what forum.

Originally Posted by NyteOwl The other aspect is diluting the forums community. While it may not be many, and in may not happen quickly, I daresay you will see a small but steady bleed of readers from the forum since they can just monitor the twitter feed. I have seen this happen to businesses that have outsourced their blog comments to places like Disques. Thjey lost the interactivity and ultimately contact with their user base to a significant degree. Just something to keep in mind. (And ther are those like my neighbour who was here while I was reading this and asked (not unreasonably) "Why would they do that? If I wanted to post my problem or whatever on Twitter I'de have used Twitter in the first place.")

To the last point I would say I want the broadest exposure possible to the questions I have. Being able to accomplish that with one post is helpful.

To your first thought, I would refer you to your signature. Twitter integration can help LQ stay relevant in a day of evolving social interaction methods. Forums, while helpful, are a bit of a throwback to usenet and BBS of the 70s & 80s. Any community needs to evolve to continnue to attract new participants. Some, perhaps you, will stay on the forum format, others may love the RSS feeds or Twitter posts.

The Linux questions.org is very great site. [removed url]

vishalanchan, You've now posted links to that site in multiple threads on the same day you joined the site. I've removed the (unrelated) link from this thread, please refrain from this behavior in the future. Welcome to LQ.

--jeremy

I use Twitter - as a giant RSS feed. It has it's uses - I'm just not convinced it is necessarily useful in this case. Nor do I particularly see forums as "obsolete" merely because of the age of their roots. After all, we're all here because we have an interest in Unix like operating systems - whose roots by technology terms of reference are also "old".

Just hate to see LQ get diluted by being spread too thin. Forgot about this thread till today's e-mail reminded me

Originally Posted by jeremy FWIW, you can already get an RSS feed for any arbitrary individual forum or group of fora. We considered having a StatusNet for LQ but don't have any definitive implementation plans at this time. --jeremy

Was just curious if...
1). The stream had been shaped to desired output? i.e. no "full fire hose" effect still?
and
2). If something like the vetting process in the new LQ site features could be integrated into the twitter feed? Ref from public email - "I'd like to remind all members about two new features we recently added to LQ. First, if you find the content of a post helpful, remember to click Yes next to "Did you find this post helpful?". After receiving a minimum number of Yes votes, the most helpful post in a thread will be highlighted. Second, you are now able to mark a thread as by clicking "Mark this thread as solved" under "Thread Tools". The thread will remain open, but this will let other members who are having a similar issue know your thread contains a solution."

It seems to me that a similar mechanism could be applied to the tweets, perhaps even automated, so that when a comment that receives enough Helpful votes it would post to the feed- or perhaps when it reaches the SOLVED state.

No one has commented on this thread in some time, and this may not be relevant. I have just begun following the LQ twitter feed and noticed there were still several posts within the same minute, which still seems like a lot.

Oh this is still a relevant thread. There's very little actual coverage on this type of topic where the solutions are actually demonstrated.

This might help some: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...9/#post3794600

Like I said, there appears to be very little in the form of documented solutions that are actually promoted, as Jeremy himself alludes to.

If you prefer to pick up a bit of history in the process, you can follow the two threads that start HERE. That link/thread, will eventually will lead to the same place I posted above (past a few other methodologies - some that are valid and some that include broken links).

I hope that helps

Kindest regards,

.