Another perspective I am considering.
I think Twitter does "work", to an extent under the right circumstances, which Kelly gets into. (Mostly the Sith deal predominantly but not exclusively in absolutes.)
One thing that Twitter works really well for is personal conversations, which trips people up because most things on Twitter are very public.
But very little good ever comes of anyone on Twitter declaring "This is a public conversation in a public place."
But very little good ever comes of anyone on Twitter declaring "This is a public conversation in a public place."
I think you can have a spontaneous connection with a stranger on Twitter, but it will almost always be as a result of bonding over something you do share. An experience, a fandom, etc.
One way it falls apart is when we try to replicate those personal dynamics with strangers. If we're not being overly familiar with someone who doesn't know us, we're backfilling details we don't know because the way we interact implies to our brains that we do, that we should.
I think that's part of why it's easy to assume the best or the worst about a person we know nothing about. If you spend like 60 to 80 percent of your time interacting with people you do know, and you suddenly have a meaningful, powerful emotional moment with a stranger...
...and you're not consciously shifting gears, I think maybe it's easy to stay in the mindset of interacting with a known acquaintance. You feel good or bad about this person based on that interaction, and your brain rationalizes why.
I mean, there's also the fundamental attribution error and the illusion of transparency at play there. No cause with a single effect and no effect with a single cause, etc.
