# Help me utilize Twitter **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 21, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985 "2013-02-21T17:14:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/1 "2013-02-21T17:14:05Z")
I really don’t get Twitter, but there have been a few feeds I’d like to monitor. For those that use Twitter, how do you access the feeds? Do you actually visit [Twitter.com](http://Twitter.com), do you use an app/program, do you get tweets in your e-mail, or what? Ideally I would sort of like them in e-mail but last time I checked that wasn’t easy to do. ---
**Author:** ![Time\_Stranger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Time\_Stranger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Time_Stranger)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/2 "2013-02-21T18:30:45Z")
I honestly have no idea if email is an option (although googling does provide a few options), but this is what I do: I use Tweetdeck, a freestanding application, and then make a list of the specific feeds I want to follow. You can put that specific list as its own column so you see only that list. But if you only follow a couple of feeds, you can just use Tweetdeck’s main column. But it’s easier to start putting things in lists now rather than later. ---
**Author:** ![markdash](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@markdash](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markdash)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/3 "2013-02-21T18:37:52Z")
You can set up RSS feeds to people’s twitter accounts. [Link.](http://support.dlvr.it/entries/22157073-Twitter-RSS-feeds-suddenly-becoming-invalid) Or if you use Google Reader you can click “subscribe” and then paste the required URL from the link above (i.e. “[https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user\_timeline/control-z.rss](https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline/control-z.rss)” to follow posts from twitter user “control-z”). I stopped doing this because there’s significant lag in posts going on twitter and going to the RSS feed, but if you don’t care about timeliness I recommend doing it this way. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/4 "2013-02-21T20:00:00Z")
> [@markdash](#): > > You can set up RSS feeds to people’s twitter accounts. [Link.](http://support.dlvr.it/entries/22157073-Twitter-RSS-feeds-suddenly-becoming-invalid) > > Or if you use Google Reader you can click “subscribe” and then paste the required URL from the link above (i.e. “[https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user\_timeline/control-z.rss](https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline/control-z.rss)” to follow posts from twitter user “control-z”). > > I stopped doing this because there’s significant lag in posts going on twitter and going to the RSS feed, but if you don’t care about timeliness I recommend doing it this way. That’s not bad. I have a daily app/site visit list, and RSS is one thing I’ve played with to try and combine some of those visits. I just can’t see visiting [Twitter.com](http://Twitter.com) or a Twitter app every day. I got this link to work with Google Reader: [https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user\_timeline/ps2dailydeals.rss](https://api.twitter.com/1/statuses/user_timeline/ps2dailydeals.rss) (that is a feed about deals for the game Planetside 2.) How much lag are you seeing? As long as it’s the same day it should be fine for my needs. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/5 "2013-02-21T20:01:08Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Ideally I would sort of like them in e-mail but last time I checked that wasn’t easy to do. Why in the world would you want them in an email? Set up a Twitter account, follow the feeds you want, then go to Twitter to check in on them whenever you want. Do you honestly want hundreds of emails a day with nothing but one sentence of content? ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/6 "2013-02-21T20:16:13Z")
Shayna dropped an excellent twitorial in the GQ recently. [Twink.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15991274&postcount=21) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/7 "2013-02-21T20:16:53Z")
Glad the OP can prioritize his needs. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/8 "2013-02-21T20:31:54Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Why in the world would you want them in an email? > > Set up a Twitter account, follow the feeds you want, then go to Twitter to check in on them whenever you want. Do you honestly want hundreds of emails a day with nothing but one sentence of content? I am not interested in feeds where someone posts every random thought or activity throughout the day. The feeds I’m interested will only have occasional tweets. Like this one: [https://twitter.com/RealTimeWWII](https://twitter.com/RealTimeWWII) So yes, I do want them in my e-mail ideally. Email is something I check early and often. I’m not going to religiously visit [Twitter.com](http://Twitter.com) just to see if something was posted lately. But RSS will work too, thanks **markdash**. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/9 "2013-02-21T21:46:58Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I am not interested in feeds where someone posts every random thought or activity throughout the day. Neither am I - which makes checking [twitter.com](http://twitter.com) once a day ideal for me. That sounds pretty much exactly like your situation. Open up Twitter, read the tweets until you get to tomorrow’s tweets, stop, repeat tomorrow morning. I use Google Reader as well - but it’s so inadequately suited to Twitter I can’t possibly imagine using it for that function. Outside of a 3rd party app like TweetDeck, Twitter is the ideal way to consume Twitter. Just saying maybe check it out for a few days and see if it works. ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/10 "2013-02-22T13:32:28Z")
Pro tip: If you plan to make any tweets yourself, stop using words like “utilize” where “use” will do. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/11 "2013-02-22T15:22:05Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I use Google Reader as well - but it’s so inadequately suited to Twitter I can’t possibly imagine using it for that function. Why do you say Google Reader is inadequate? It shows the tweets, that’s all the functionality I need. > [@Sailboat](#): > > Pro tip: If you plan to make any tweets yourself, stop using words like “utilize” where “use” will do. 🙂 Ok, use small words on Twitter. Got it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/12 "2013-02-22T15:40:04Z")
No, uz sml wrds n Twtr. Thy wl lk gd on yr rsume to. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/13 "2013-02-22T16:02:18Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Why do you say Google Reader is inadequate? It shows the tweets, that’s all the functionality I need. Because it takes about 100 times longer to process tweets via Google Reader than it does just going to [twitter.com](http://twitter.com). You seem to have placed a pretty high value on efficiency - I don’t see how Google Reader would make this process efficient. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/14 "2013-02-22T16:28:27Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Because it takes about 100 times longer to process tweets via Google Reader than it does just going to [twitter.com](http://twitter.com). You seem to have placed a pretty high value on efficiency - I don’t see how Google Reader would make this process efficient. So 100 seconds versus 1 second? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2013, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-utilize-twitter/650985/15 "2013-02-22T16:35:02Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > So 100 seconds versus 1 second? I’m being slightly hyperbolic - but yes, it’d be far easier to just add Twitter to your list of sites to visit each morning and be able to easily scan down the page than have to click on each RSS feed for each Twitter feed you follow, click on each individual tweet entry in order to read it, and click on any additional links or pictures that are contained in each of those tweets. Do it whichever way you like - but I personally think you’re adding a whole lot more work to the process.