Channels in this regard, where you follow part of the person, were tried by Chime.in but never really worked or took off. I don’t know if it would really work in the context of Twitter either.

Back in 2011 I proposed a form of channels based on events or topics (I called them hashcodes to build on hashtags) where a particular topic could have its own timeline separate from the main timeline so that followers didn’t get spammed by multiple tweets about something they weren’t interested in. This also meant that anyone could contribute to that particular topic or event.

This was triggered by the realisation that, during our day, we become part of numerous implicit social networks based on topic/event/location that only last for a limited time. The need for these to have a separate timeline was prompted by events such as SXSW taking over your feed.

I figured that businesses or organisations could register particular hashcodes (for a fee) which might enabled them to have a degree of control (to combat spam etc.) and enhanced branding so I pitched the idea to Twitter.

Silence…

I was hopeful when they toyed with the idea of Event Pages which seemed to be heading in the same direction but these never seemed to be given a fair chance.

I still think they are a good idea.