So, since the core engineering team at Twitter is reportedly gone, and the likelihood of the entire infrastructure getting hacked seems exponentially higher, I decided to deactivate my Twitter account this morning.
It’s not like I use that password anywhere else or have any sensitive information tied to my account, but it was a developer account and the whole business just feels like a steaming pile of at this point. I started my account in 2008 and was never super active, but I feel sad that a core tool of communication and democracy, let alone jobs for many has crumbled in such a short amount of time due the the hubris (and possibly actual ill intention) of a single person.
Just curious if anyone else is bailing or feeling the same way?
I’m sure something will spring up from Twitter’s ashes as Tech seemingly also hates a void, and agree about all the ugly business of resettlement. Also agree that Mastadon is probably too steep a curve for the masses, but then again, I remember what Twitter felt like in the beginning when it was mostly the tech community there, so…
I use Twitter every day - mostly as a read-only medium (I have lots of lists) and occasionally to post. I got up this morning and it works the same as ever.
I haven’t been seeing Reddit being mentioned as a potential replacement.
The difference being that Reddit is organized by topic, rather than following people. I think that might be the better strategy, as following people brings along all their cruft you might not be interested in.
The mass hysteria at Musk’s drastic cuts (in an attempt to right a sinking ship) just fascinates me to no end. I can’t wait until everyone tweeting about leaving Twitter are gone. Not that they’ll actually leave…
I don’t like to play this card but as a Ukrainian Jew born behind the USSR’s Iron Curtain, if you think increasing diversity of thought is damaging to democracy, you may just be a pawn of tyranny calling itself democracy. Mussolini himself, the father of Fascism, defined it as the merger between corporation and state. Funny how that is the one definition the 12:1 Democrat White House press corps, and the 98% Democrat-donating Silicon Valley, don’t remind you of while they call everyone else Fascists. I am more concerned that Elon wants to clone WeChat.
Things aren’t exactly stable at this point.
As critical people leave, things will get worse. Like people being locked out of buildings because the badge access person was laid off.
I bailed on Twitter years ago when it became clear that they had little interest in protecting the safety of its more vulnerable participants. The vitriolic harassment, the threats of bodily harm and even death — it made me feel gross to contribute to a platform that harms so many and is so clearly exclusionary.
In addition, few people of my social and work community were actually using it. That made it easier to stop using it. I think Twitter users often forget that most people’s view of Twitter is what gets reported in the news when someone “newsworthy” posts something attention-grabbing. I wouldn’t call it an echo chamber, but it’s a much smaller slice of humanity than other social media platforms.
I’m staying on Twitter. I use Tweetbot and I’ve not noticed much of a difference this week.
Elon Musk has borrowed $44bn from various sources, I wonder how most of the lenders are feeling at this point about the possibility of getting their money back. Yes, I know that the loans will probably be secured against assets, but still. It’s a train wreck.
I love Twitter. To me, it’s the only social media that does something real and powerful. (Reddit is also great, but I’m not sure that I’d classify that as social media.) I joined Twitter the summer of 2008 when I was running for State Assembly in CA, and it’s the only Social Media that I use consistently. It’s fun, it makes things accessible, I’ve discovered news (tech, political, sports) faster on Twitter than anywhere else. Yes, there are toxic aspects that need to be addressed. But for all the bad, Twitter has been an amazing platform for getting information out. Crying out loud, the Arab Spring (depending on who’s doing the analyzing) was either entirely an outgrowth of Twitter, and to some lesser extent other social platforms, or at least fostered by Twitter.
I think Twitter is in good hands with Elon and many of the people claiming they will leave will not actually go or will be back. Most of the complaints act as if Twitter has already fallen apart. I use Twitter every day and other than the trending topics about #TwitterMigration and the like, I haven’t seen anything operate differently. Certainly, my home timeline is a lot better, a lot more active, and a lot more vibrant.
I think people are hoping for a problem and for a failure. And they are pretending one exists before it even emerges. It’s very minority report. (Maybe, indeed, this is one of Twitter’s flaws: knee jerk reactions and the resulting lack of perspective.)
I say, let’s give Elon a chance to fail. A couple of weeks is not a chance. Let’s pronounce Twitter 2.0’s colossal failure or wild success in the space of time, after it happens.
at this point. I started my account in 2008 and was never super active, but I feel sad that a core tool of communication and democracy, let alone jobs for many has crumbled in such a short amount of time due the the hubris (and possibly actual ill intention) of a single person.