A few months in the past, I documented how some Googlers have been removing some of their old posts (tweets) from X (Twitter). John Mueller from Google did not actually touch upon why again then (I requested) however yesterday he lastly defined why he retains eradicating his outdated Tweets (Posts) from the platform.
John Mueller defined on X that he’s “not a fan of how the platform has advanced.” He added, “Regardless of what some bloggers assume, Twitter isn’t documentation, so I clear up my account periodically.” As an alternative, he makes use of the chance to replace the official Google documentation on the Google web site. He wrote, “If one thing’s unclear, we’ll see if it is acceptable to replace the documentation.”
Mueller added:
Not each tweet is worthy of persistent documentation; issues rely lots on context, and that will get misplaced & distorted so shortly even inside Twitter. Many issues are simple to extrapolate or consider with some expertise & the documentation.
Since that December story, John Mueller has continued to delete posts from the platform. Should you learn by way of among the archives right here, you will notice that lots of the embeds I’ve from the platform are lacking and damaged. However for the reason that JavaScript embed included the textual content of the reply, it nonetheless accommodates how John responded. The problem is, I usually included the embeds as a result of it contained the context of who he replied to, with the precise query. That context, in lots of circumstances, are actually utterly gone.
Listed below are these posts (get them earlier than they’re eliminated – kidding…):
Simply personally not a fan of how the platform has advanced, and regardless of what some bloggers assume, Twitter isn’t documentation, so I clear up my account periodically. If one thing’s unclear, we’ll see if it is acceptable to replace the documentation.
— John (@JohnMu) February 4, 2024
Not each tweet is worthy of persistent documentation; issues rely lots on context, and that will get misplaced & distorted so shortly even inside Twitter. Many issues are simple to extrapolate or consider with some expertise & the documentation.
— John (@JohnMu) February 4, 2024
On the one hand, perhaps. Then again, documenting issues which make no distinction is kinda futile, it simply brings individuals to surprise if perhaps it does make a distinction and Google’s simply making an attempt to hoard the 301’s for itself (spoiler: no).
— John (@JohnMu) February 5, 2024
Again in December, Danny Sullivan, one other Googler who has eliminated plenty of posts from his private X account, told us, “On my private account, I’ve (properly had, the service died) auto-delete that is been in place for over a yr. It saved issues with some notable engagement that appeared, properly, value preserving. I can pull work tweets up from my archive if wanted.”
I like documenting how issues change, how context adjustments the reply {that a} Googler could give and the way typically Google’s view on insurance policies might also change over time. It’s a passion and I do the identical not simply with posts from Googlers on social media but additionally by monitoring plenty of the official Google documentation and seeing what adjustments on occasion with these paperwork.
However I do get how X is a special place than it was and the way it is probably not as thrilling to publish on there as a lot.
Discussion board dialogue at X.