6

The OpenData Twitter account is @StackOpenData.

Where can I find more information such as who runs it and how can we improve it?

I checked @StackEnglish and @StackGerman and none, including @StackOpenData, has any friends. Perhaps it's just a bot and there is no way.

4
  • 1
    If it is a bot, it would be great to autofollow all the users in the opendata SE. At least, all of them who state their twitter url in their profiles.
    – Tasos
    Mar 7, 2014 at 11:53
  • How do we find out who has the keys to the bot?
    – philshem Mod
    Mar 7, 2014 at 12:05
  • I have seen Jon Ericson (a community manager) answering questions like this one in meta. But he isn't here everyday. So, we could just wait for him :)
    – Tasos
    Mar 7, 2014 at 12:18
  • I'll track it down, was first brought to my attention by another user. As a moderator, it was news to me.
    – Jeanne Holm
    Mar 7, 2014 at 17:46

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
6

Ahoy there! Yes, this is a bot. We aren't particularly satisfied with the traffic these accounts drive to the sites. Which is to say, they don't. The other issue is that Twitter has suspended a few of our site accounts because, um, they might not be following Twitter's rules. (I think they are considered "Serial Accounts".) So we haven't been creating new accounts for new beta sites while we try to figure out how to use Twitter effectively.

All of this is to say, we are open to ideas. If you have any, feel free to write another answer to this question. Keep in mind:

These Twitter accounts started life as a simple way to collect the "Greatest Hits" of questions on a given Stack Exchange site.

3
  • 2
    Thanks for the clarification, Jon. It's helpful to know the process so we can contribute.
    – Jeanne Holm
    Mar 8, 2014 at 1:33
  • Thanks for the clarification. I'll use my personal twitter account to bring attention to the OD website.
    – philshem Mod
    Mar 10, 2014 at 9:31
  • @Jon any feedback on my suggestion? Thank you
    – Tasos
    Mar 17, 2014 at 7:31
4

After Jon Ericson's answer, here is my suggestion. Unfortunately, it seems to me that it will need several programming hours.

Create a tool inside Stack Exchange, which will make use of Twitter API. Moderators will have the following options:

  • Follow back users
  • Tweet questions and answers with custom hashtags
  • Identify trending questions and wait for moderators approvement before tweet

Otherwise, we could always use the same review system for the above features instead of moderators.

4
  • 1
    Unfortunately, we haven't had a chance to look at the Twitter account issue in detail. One thing that will limit our development time on the Twitter bots is our findings that they aren't very effective at drawing people to the site. That's a bit of a chicken and egg problem, I know. But for the near and medium term, you'd probably be better off using a personal Twitter account to retweet content from the bot or set up your own system of broadcasting Open Data questions.
    – Jon Ericson
    Mar 17, 2014 at 15:05
  • 1
    I agree that bots will be a total disaster. That's why I suggest a tool that users will take care of the twitter account. I am 100% sure that if humans tweet the write questions with the write hashtags, we will increase significantly the visits. Actually, I post one of my answers in reddit and almost in 2 days I took the badge of 1000 unique visits. The right choice of words is the success. And a bot cannot do that.
    – Tasos
    Mar 17, 2014 at 15:18
  • i've never liked the limited share options personally. tie those users shares into the bot...i'm not 100% how that would work, but i think thats it...plus you'd get all of the sharing data consolidated, who is, what is being, where it is being shared...you know better than me. but its a thought.
    – albert
    Apr 26, 2014 at 13:41
  • but agree about sharing: people invested in the community will share with like minded and the infection spreads. its the best form of advertising, if you call it that, they do it entirely on their own, for love of community/product/service/etc.
    – albert
    Apr 26, 2014 at 13:43
1

tweet something about #opendataday this weekend to encourage communities to come here. i know i'm posting this a little late for this year, but something to prep for in the future

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .