Twitter still sucks for discussions, film at 11.

These are all excellent points, emphasis below is mine:

• People even don’t reply properly so context is lost

• Different people answer at different times (sometimes a “this is so wrong” comes hours later)

• There is no proper Twitter archive or search, so the same arguments happen over and over again

• The limit of 140 characters should work to phrase your arguments wisely and delete pointless parts but in reality makes people leave out important bits

• It invites people to show off and speak in soundbites rather than arguments

On that bolded point: archives and searching would go a long way toward creating discourse.

Memory is what helps us build on the past.

I think Twitter is just a poor medium for discussions from a fundamental design perspective. The culture of how Twitter has come to be used just compounds it.

My dad has complained that playing music from his iPhone's built-in speaker really sounds terrible. I explain it was never designed to be a boom box. I tell him to use the earbuds or get a nice sounddock.

I don't shout from the rooftops when I want to have a private conversation. I don't send a letter if I want an instantaneous reply. Email is not IM which is not a blog post which is not a tweet which is not a friends-only Facebook status update. Twitter isn't the best tool for the job though it may have to do if that's the only forum the relevant parties are connected on. Maybe going forward Twitter can expand their product offering and remedy this.