Stupid shares, some claim that is what Twitter has become, but unlike Facebook where an algorithm selects what it thinks is important based on your past actions (which of course is informed by what the algorithm chooses to show), Twitter is a stream-of-consciousness, a feed of free flowing thoughts.
This leads to a competition to be the wittiest tweeter, quick the the most timely quip. New York Times writer Jenna Wortham wrote:
What does matter, however, is how many people notice you, either through retweets, favorites or the holy grail, a retweet by someone extremely well known, like a celebrity. That validation that your contribution is important, interesting or worthy is enough social proof to encourage repetition. Many times, that results in one-upmanship, straining to be the loudest or the most retweeted and referred to as the person who captured the splashiest event of the day in the pithiest way.
And continued
It feels as if we’re all trying to be a cheeky guest on a late-night show, a reality show contestant or a toddler with a tiara on Twitter — delivering the performance of a lifetime, via a hot, rapid-fire string of commentary, GIFs or responses that help us stand out from the crowd.
Wortham’s solution: retreat “to smaller groups, where the stakes are lower and people are more honest and less determined to prove a point, freer to joke and experiment, more trusting in one other and open to real conversation.”
This is where Wortham is incorrect, Twitter is however large you make it, her feed can be ten people or 10,000. One GigaOm Post asks a question that I often ask about news, “Is the noise overwhelming the signal?”
The Answer: It depends on your feed. I felt recently that my feed was being overwhelmed by a lot of noise so I unfollowed more than 200 individuals, now there is a greater signal/noise balance.
This, is the problem with the growth of the network, its value is increasing to the masses and to some of the early adopters who fondly “remember when” the service no longer provides the value it once did.
This is where Twitter and Facebook differ: Facebook shapes your experience, deciding what you see where you shape Twitter curating a feed and shaping lists to determine what you see an when.