Twitter Jail

This is the fourth in a series of utterly unimportant ramblings and observations about the way that Twitter works.  The others are (click on links):

• How to Use Twitter (a guide for beginners and non-beginners alike)
• The Language of Twitter (some fluffy reflections on the English used on it)
• Conceptualising Twitter (trying to explain what on earth it is to non-users)

What is Twitter Jail?

So this post is about being in Twitter Jail - it's also known as Twitter Prison, Twitter Gaol (classy spelling!), Twitter Slammer.  Well, what is it?  I've had a surprising number of people ask me that question, seemingly unaware of its existence.

It's essentially a special circle of hell reserved for those who tweet "too much".  Here's what the Urban Dictionary says:

Twitter makes no mention of the specific 100 tweets per hour limit on its support page, though it does confirm the 1000 tweets per day limit that is "broken down into smaller limits for semi-hour intervals".  Tweets includes retweets.  The support page also mentions a separate daily limit of 250 direct messages.  You'd have to be going some to hit 250 DMs in a day, unless those rumours are true that this is where it all actually happens on Twitter and all the rude stuff goes on? Ahem.

100 tweets in a hour sounds like an awful lot.  If you're posting 100 general tweets in an hour this is indeed a huge amount.  The chances you'd have no followers after a very short time, because you'd be flooding their timelines so much.  (The exception is during something like X-Factor, where 100 tweets and RTs are quite possible and often amusing from the very quick-witted).  But 100 messages to people that are in fact multiple conversations, not general tweets?  That's actually quite easily hit.  I know. For I am a Twitter Jail Bird :o))

What happens when you get chucked behind the metaphorical bars, is that you receive an error message as you try to post a tweet.  You receive no warning: you are just cut off.  There is no trial.  There is no judge or jury.  This is summary "justice".  Appeals to the ECtHR in Strassbourg are not possible.  You have no way of telling people you've been carted off.

What can you do in Twitter Jail?

When you're in Twitter Jail, you can read your feed and look at your @ mentions.  If you haven't gone over the DM limit you can also still direct message.  What you cannot do is tweet yourself.  It's very, very frustrating, as you're frequently cut off mid conversation and unable to respond to anything.  I always like to respond to people, promptly - I just find it good Twitterquette.  For example a couple of my blogs have led to loads of people responding: I had over 1000 lovely supportive messages in the space of an afternoon on one - and I was locked in Twitter Jail in no time, unable to thank people.  That sucks.

How long is your sentence?

This varies.  The support page mentions something about variable times.  It can be 30 minutes, or at busy times it can be longer.  You're advised to try again "in a few hours".  I've found that if you're put in prison twice in a day, you have to sit out longer the second time and it really can be three hours you're shut out.  THREE HOURS WITHOUT TWITTER? What is there to do to amuse yourself without Twitter?  Nothing.

These poor Twinky Tweeps are at a complete lost end :(

Jail Breaking

You're eventually released without warning.  I've not found tricks round this: you just keep trying and trying and suddenly you're a free Tweep.  People have sent me e-nail files (I always leave with well manicured hands, but they're useless on the bars) and even my fearless collie dog, Oscar, has not been able to break me.  He's more interested in raiding the biskwit tin or playing with his squeaky toys whilst I'm languishing in a windowless jail.  Sob.

@LassieOscar to the Rescue? Erm, no.

Defying Twitter

However... there are ways to make your jail sentence less disruptive, as I and other people have found.  What you do is this:

• Create a second profile for emergency use (mine is @PMEinJail)
• Make it clear on the bio and from the name that it's you, in jail
• Log out of your main account (e.g. @PME2013)
• Open multiple windows on your computer (it's more tricky on an iPhone)
• Do a search for your main account name - all mentions of you will come up, so you can see who has replied to you.  You can then respond to those messages from your jail account, and the conversation will automatically move over as they reply to you in jail
• You do not need to try to follow everyone again from your jail account.  What I do is simply open another window with a list I've already created with the people I speak to most anyway.  
• If you don't use lists, they are a superb way of refining your Twitter experience and ideal for this scenario.  I can see what my top 250 tweeps are saying through my period in jail and then just pop back over to my main feed when I'm released

I've been in jail 3 times already this week.  The above might sound like a right faff, and if you're a less fanatical user of Twitter, of course not necessary.  But for hard core Tweeps like me (aka, people who don't *actually* have a life) it really works very slickly indeed.

Even if you don't need to create a jail account yourself, at least having read this you'll be aware what's happening if you get a response from a random account like for example, @PMEinJail or @KiraInJail...

Have fun and don't tweet too much guys - it's not big and it's not clever!  Yeah right :-)