... scientists, comedians,etc you choose to follow. You can get news instantly- I love it. Obviously, you do not know how to use it. I follow over 1500 people - rarely have a bot post, occasionally some advertising but mostly lots of the latest info and videos. Lots of creative people commenting in novel ways. I can follow my favorite women authors and communicate with them too. You choose who you follow. Follow good people and it’s great!!

certain celebrities..I rarely ever tweet unless a Trumpie really pisses me off.

whose reputation in news, politics, or other fields I respect and who have something to say worth following.

By curating your feed you can usually keep most of them at bay but sometimes it gets crazy.

don't otherwise experience in my day-to-day goings-on, and get new perspectives and ideas.

I enjoy it.

You DO have to be a bit discerning about who you follow.

I follow Journalists I respect and some bird watching and Gardening sites.....

Learning curve about navigation takes time but isn’t bad.

I follow a lot of reporters. A lot of replies from bots/trolls but you can block them.

Though good at times for breaking news - if you look with a critical eye.

It could be so easy for Twitter to verify that people are who they say they are and are indeed not bots.
But that would probably hurt their inflated usage numbers and subsequently their revenue streams.
So stupid.

I only use Instagram as a sharing, teaching tool for my gardening work.

for keywords and names, skimming quickly through lots of posts.

It's very good for breaking news, and for getting reactions to what's happened.

it completely depends on who you follow.

I've found some amazing voices there: Sarah Kendzior; Andrea Chalupa; Timothy Snyder; Alexi McCammond; Jelani Cobb; Jeff Tiedrich; Barb McQuade; Weijia Jiang; Laurie Garrett. And on and on!

I agree, though, that it can easily devolve into a cesspool.

Full of annoying abbreviations, misspellings and hashtags.

Can it be used for getting news? Sure. Given the right sources.

The comments in the tweets, however...youch.

It is useful, I'm not inclined to throw out the baby with the bathwater. Listen to those voices which are helpful to you, who are truthful, who are trustworthy.

On the other hand, if you don't know the source, caveat emptor.

Some very, very valuable boots-on-the-ground information is transmitted by Twitter, and in that alone, it's invaluable.

It is also helpful to create lists. I have a list for trusted news sources, trusted individual reporters, Michigan news and a list for curios (sources that intrigue me/make me happy).

I also follow several lists, like Senate Democrats: https://twitter.com/SenateDems

I follow journalists from the Washington Post, Newsweek, and several infectious disease doctors. Often news will break first on Twitter and then you'll see it show up in the press.

Journalists love twitter for breaking news...

When we have bad weather, I go to the local NWS twitter feed. Their twitter feed is more up to date than their website.
Also it's fun watching a respected journalists' feed during a debate. (The WaPo used to do this real-time on their website, but now they do it on twitter)

Otherwise, I'm not much of a twitter person. It is a good way of getting bites of info out quickly.

Use your brain.

Check what you read there against multiple other sources that are not Twitter.

It can suck your time though.

I follow trusted journos and dem politicians only and rarely see these bots. My bro doesn't, and is pounded by them daily. It worked the same way when I was on FB years ago.

I learn a LOT from Twitter.

Check out content from accounts with blue wave emojis. They are part of the Resistance.

After awhile it is easy to "spot the bots."

And there are GREAT big accounts that I adore.

@darth
@goldengateblond
@BettyBowers

and many others.

I will go during breaking news or to get NWS alerts.

I think trying to "spend time" on twitter would drive me crazy.
Otherwise, trying to use it as a "social media", would drive me nuts. For me, it is best used for infobites. I rarely retweet anything.
There is sometimes funny social stuff like "Dogs at Thanksgiving"...

Some on this thread, seem to be able to navigate the more technical aspects. I am involved with some public education activism and we use twitter during the legislative session to quickly communicate with elected officials when a bill is on the floor etc. It seems to be a fairly effective way to communicate and the elected officials do seem to have their cellphones handy. This type of activism is a bit more techy, but the ring leaders tell us what to do and what hashtags we need to use etc. I could probably figure it out on my own, but I just don't have the time.

I've created several private lists, like Legal Info (accounts that tweet developments on court cases, plus attorneys & legal scholars I follow), Local News (all my local news outlets), & a bunch that are self-explanatory like Space, Music & Entertainment, Government, Animals, Inspiration, Funny, Polls, Weather (since I live in hurricane country), etc. I also have a list of the relatively few folks I talk to on a regular basis. It's important to note that all my lists are private so no other users can see them.

Sorting accounts in lists works well for me as it allows me to get to the type of content I want at any given time. For example, every night before I go to sleep I calm my political rage by looking at some combination of Inspiration (mostly inspirational quotes), Animals (all the cute kittens you can handle), & Funny (accounts that tweet funny stuff).

I'm Captain Truth @TruthTeamOne if anyone wants to follow me.

I haven't taken the time to learn the ins and out.

I get most of my "hobby" stuff from Facebook groups. I am into gardening and genealogy. I would think twitter would be hard, especially for genealogy because of their word limits.

I did not know you could create lists...that's cool. So, you can just go to the "Funny" list to chill... I did not know you could do that.

I do go to our local NWS twitter during severe weather.

I follow Maddow, some former Obama administration folks, a couple NYT and CNN reporters, Yamiche, Sen Harris, Sec. Castro, etc.

Your experience there is up to you, really. Choose carefully who you follow and you can avoid bots by avoiding the responses to the tweets.

I am not on Twitter myself, but I do get notifications about interesting Tweets and links.

It can be a source of information, but it is definitely a place that is crawling with people who are out to convince you and convert you, or simply to troll and watch the world burn.


A professor once told me, "ALL information is biased, you just have to discern what the bias is and whether it serves to improve our situation or make it worse."

People who say it isn't, or call it a cesspool, are following the wrong folks.

First, bots abound on twitter, and play a large part in what trends on the platform.

There are a lot of good people on Twitter, too. You have to seek them out and follow them. Over time the twitter algorithm will adjust your user experience to be more oriented to things you may find informative.

Many of the top trends are often hot garbage, but it’s hard not to look.

If the real world was a representation of the opinions and popularity of ideas/public figures; President Bernie Sanders would be three years into a violent campaign against rightwing guerilla fighters and terrorists.

It has its moments for entertainment value, but shouldn't be taken remotely seriously

is a lousy source of information. Use it for strictly entertainment purposes, like the daily horoscope in your newspaper.

information. & so do a lot of people around here

If a run across brainwashed idiots.. I call them out & forget it.

I'm glad I joined in 2018.

Link to tweet

It gets breaking news first. Like it or not. Yes, it depends on who you follow. Also, looking at what's trending gives you a peek at what's popular nationwide. You can choose to just look at the people you follow or you can look at what's trending. they are 2 different choices.

p.s. Do not follow trump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! therein lies your cesspool.

but, I think I've been pretty successful at keeping
my feed limited to the most useful posters -
and I find it an extremely fertile and valuable
resource for following scientists, journalists and activists.

I don't seek or engage with any trolls or fighting.

BREAKING: Police have now confirmed unidentified human remains have been found in the backyard of Chad Daybell


https://twitter.com/hashtag/WhereAreTheKids?src=hashtag_click

Link to tweet

My niece set up my feed with a lot of individual local US reporters and news agencies. So far I'm getting a nice round about of actual fact based news instead of commentary.

The only exception is a couple of progressive organizations from Ohio and Kentucky. Most of it is great but every now and again a repost of something DJT says and commentary pops up. That I don't mind.

Many seem to think it is gospel.

Or sweet, like in Chasten and Pete Buttigieg's account for their dogs.

You don't need to read the comments if it's stressing you out. Just view the original tweet, follow the news link, whatever. You control who you follow and if you see recommendations that don't interest you, just scroll on by.

It's probably a good idea to limit the amount of time on Twitter, same as with any social media.

@WalterSchaub,

@KurtEichenwald

@MalcomNance

Or I am not taking everything as much to heart as I was.