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Need for better help information
Can Twitter staff improve the help section?
Right now, the help section is very rudimentary. It only provides an overview of most functions. For example, the section on tracking only provides the list of commands but does not explain how they function. Example: usage of a multi-word expression like "Track Montreal Canadiens". Some users have posted feedback that seems to indicate that the Twitter will then return updates that match both words individually instead of those that contain literally the same expression in the same order.
I also need to know what characters are allowed in the tracking words. For example, if I enter the command "Track Braves-senior-team" will Twitter accept the dash character and consider "Braves-senior-team" as a single word for which will require a complete and precise match in order to be forwarded as a tracked update.
How the track command interracts with various account settings also requires an explanation. For example, the fact that it overrides the blocked setting needs to be clearly mentioned.
Right now, the help section is very rudimentary. It only provides an overview of most functions. For example, the section on tracking only provides the list of commands but does not explain how they function. Example: usage of a multi-word expression like "Track Montreal Canadiens". Some users have posted feedback that seems to indicate that the Twitter will then return updates that match both words individually instead of those that contain literally the same expression in the same order.
I also need to know what characters are allowed in the tracking words. For example, if I enter the command "Track Braves-senior-team" will Twitter accept the dash character and consider "Braves-senior-team" as a single word for which will require a complete and precise match in order to be forwarded as a tracked update.
How the track command interracts with various account settings also requires an explanation. For example, the fact that it overrides the blocked setting needs to be clearly mentioned.
I’m frustrated
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Inappropriate?Hi there. I don't have an answer to all your questions, but I *do* know the following (from experimentation):
1. Track ignores 'stop words,' for example: to, the, a, with.
Note: the list that I linked to above is not the actual list that Twitter uses (I don't know what their list is, unfortunately), but that list should give you a good idea of what is likely to be ignored.
The filtering of stop words implies that we can't successfully track phrases like 'Note to self' since 'to' is a stop word and gets filtered out.
2. Track appears to use space to identify the end of words and only tracks entire words.
For example, if you had sent 'track earthquake m." (with the period), track will not send you tweets that contains 'track earthquake m.3'
3. Track ignores the @ symbol.
Thus, if you intend to track your username in order to receive @replies sent to you, then Track strips away the @ symbol and only tracks the text that follows.
It's possible that Track also strips away other non-text characters, but I don't know this for sure.
4. Track works with multi-word phrases provided there are no stop words and provided you sent the phrase without quotes.
For example, it works as expected when you send 'track lead generation' -- it only sends you tweets that contain 'lead generation' as a phrase. Words that contain only lead or only generation are not returned.
I don't believe (but am not absolutely sure) that Track returns tweets that have both those words separated by other words.
However, if you had sent 'track "lead generation"' (with the double quotes) -- track doesn't work as expected because it thinks the quotes should be part of what's tracked.
Tip: You can always try sending the Track command to see how Twitter interprets the text.
For example, if you had sent 'track note to self', Twitter's reply is: You'll now receive updates matching 'note self'. To stop, send 'untrack note self'. That gives you confirmation that the word 'to' was ignored.
A final note -- I believe there are plans to enhance the Track feature soon, so the behavior described above may no longer be valid after those enhancements are added.
I’m in a good mood
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Inappropriate?Re: Dashes
I tried sending 'track braves-senior-team' and Twitter's reply was:
You'll now receive updates matching 'bravesseniorteam braves senior team'. To stop, send 'untrack bravesseniorteam braves senior team'.
... which I think isn't exactly the response that you had hoped to get.
And, I forgot to add that yes, Blocks are currently not respected in Track, but that is something that will be remedied (hopefully) soon, based on a recent statement from Twitter (1 day ago). -
Inappropriate?Thanks mdy for doing some of the leg work for me.
Usually, I try not to discover how things work by trial-and-error. The danger is that things may work in a certain way not because they were intended to work that way but because there is a bug etc.
However, the lack of a comprehensive help section is a huge shortcoming. The Twitter home page should have a big, bright button labeled "Twitter tutorial" containing a narrative of how to interact with Twitter and what to expect at each step. For example, the process of registering one's cell phone to start following someone is sorely missing. I had to go through it several times in order to gather enough information to put together a little 'cheat sheet' that I then distributed to the people to whom our organization is promoting the Twitter service as a means of delivering urgent and important, time-sensitive news bulletins.
I understand, however, what's at play. The company running Twitter is made up mostly of software engineers/programmers etc. who are typically loathe to write manuals and user guides (I speak from experience although I have been able to control my 'loathing' and I take great pride in writing manuals and guides from my intended user's perspective, which is someone who is not familiar with the intricacies of the application and all its bells and whistles and who does not assume anything) I usually divide my guides into three sections:
1. this is what this system is intended to do
2. this is how it interacts with other systems that you may be familiar with
3. this is what will happen as you go about using it
In other words, he things that I expect to know before I start using something that I'm not familiar with.
I’m confident
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Inappropriate?I agree that there can be a lot more documentation. 8-)
To be fair, I've also noticed that while the Twitter FAQ isn't updated often or quickly, they *do* eventually get around to adding new pages when different people ask the same questions here in this help forum.
For example, the FAQ page for troubleshooting your phone setup wasn't there when I first visited the FAQ many months ago.
Still, I agree that it will save a lot of people a lot of trouble if the FAQ were more visible and more comprehensive.
I’m in a good mood
