"choose who joins your conversation"
December 3, 2020 6:27 AM   Subscribe

"BBC Dad" Robert E. Kelly (previously, previously) "knows something about interruptions" so he made an ad for Twitter (1-minute subtitled video) to help advertise Twitter’s new conversation settings. (People can mark individual tweets so that "Everyone", "People you follow", or "only people you mention" can reply (which means that, if desired, a user can make a tweet un-reply-able). Twitter started testing this feature early this year and now it's apparently available for all users.) Yes, his kids are in the ad.
posted by brainwane (9 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Does The Twitter let you control how many unmasked people walk into your office?
posted by neuron at 7:02 AM on December 3, 2020 [7 favorites]


MONETIZE YOUR EMBARRASSMENT
posted by chavenet at 7:19 AM on December 3, 2020 [2 favorites]


But, you can't change the restrictions after the fact, which would actually be helpful if you aren't able to predict in advance which tweets people are going to freak out over.

You also can't prevent retweets, which is what will make these things go viral with lots of people who aren't following you. I wonder if turning off replies will actually result in more quote retweets because people want an outlet to say someone is wrong on the internet.
posted by RobotHero at 8:03 AM on December 3, 2020


I wonder if turning off replies will actually result in more quote retweets because people want an outlet to say someone is wrong on the internet.

It absolutely will. And if you could prevent retweets, people would screenshot the tweets instead. That's what Twitter does with stuff written anywhere else on the internet.
posted by BungaDunga at 9:30 AM on December 3, 2020 [2 favorites]


But at least screenshots don't result in a direct link "this way to the person who was wrong on the internet." They have to go to the trouble of typing a name in a search bar.
posted by RobotHero at 10:54 AM on December 3, 2020 [1 favorite]


I just delete everything I post, which seems to solve the problem.
posted by Peach at 4:20 PM on December 3, 2020 [2 favorites]


I liked seeing how the kids had grown and the substitute for the rolling baby but they missed an opportunity when he stood up and wasn’t wearing pajamas.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 8:13 AM on December 4, 2020 [1 favorite]


This year has so thoroughly scrambled my sense of time that I had subconsciously rewritten the original as having been filmed in March of 2020. It would make sense, right? Professional dude working from home? No, this guy was getting video-bombed by his kids before it was cool. (Did anyone contact him in March to ask for tips?) The ad is well-done and funny. Thanks for the post.
posted by eirias at 5:17 AM on December 5, 2020


The ad is sorta cute for the callback to the earlier meme/accidental "hijacking" of Kelly's report by his family, but as that really isn't what the feature would be used for, the more notable element is in how the control who replies to your tweets is mentioned as being for brands or anyone and then uses a kind of symbolic representation of who that "brand/anyone" might want to exclude.

It begins with a flat earther covering the map, but then adds an Asian man referencing some book, a Black woman taking selfies(!), and a couple white guys in the back arguing over something, as if those are all the same thing and don't point to how this can be used to limit responses by, say, Black twitter, or someone with a legitimate point of disagreement that can be checked. It gives brands the ability to eliminate "noise", which for brands can mean anyone that offers an alternative or questions their claims.

There's obviously something in that idea which is desirable for people tweeting as might help combat harassment and trolls, but it also can be used to eliminate the feature that many find so empowering about twitter, the ability for those normally without voice or amplification to address damaging ideology. The problem is that the "flat earth" types and trolls share the same mode of communication as those with legitimate grievances, but the importance of their replies is not identical. Ignore all can reinforce the existing power structure by keeping disagreement closed off in its own separate bubbles, where the majority won't ever see it.
posted by gusottertrout at 8:05 AM on December 5, 2020


« Older Sanna Marin: The feminist PM leading a coalition...   |   100 Tampons Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments