Twitter is no more. Musk has shot the blue bird. The site is unrecognisable from a few years ago. There were always some hate posts, some nastiness, some threats but these have been amplified since Elon Musk took over the site, renamed it X (a hard, unfriendly name), and curtailed most moderation, allowing hatemongers and conspiracy theorists free reign. And now Musk has joined them, sharing and agreeing with their posts, and posting ones of his own. In the past the owners of the site seemed neutral, perhaps too liberal in what was allowed, and not ones who actively encouraged the worst people. That’s changed.
I joined Twitter 15 years ago and quickly became part of an outdoor and conservation community, enjoying many threads and debates. These weren’t always calm and even-tempered. There were rows, over everything from important matters like climate change to niche ones like backpacking meal reviews. People were blocked, unblocked, blocked again. Overall it was polite though. That community started to fade a few years ago. It’s barely hanging on now. My engagement with others has dwindled to a fraction of what it was, mainly, I think, because I haven’t paid for a blue tick, something I would never do.
I have been thinking about closing my account for many weeks. Musk’s recent appalling behaviour has made up my mind. I am going. Nostalgia for what Twitter once was is not enough. Having lots of followers, far more than on any other social media platform, is not enough. By staying I continue to support Musk. We may think of ourselves as users of social media but we are also the product. Our numbers are what Musk sells to get advertising. I don’t want to be part of this anymore.
I posted a last Tweet saying I was leaving. I read the arguments for staying of George Monbiot, Michael Rosen and others who I follow and admire. Stay and fight, they say. But staying merely supports Musk. I think it better to leave. If enough do and only the haters, racists, and conspiracy mongers are left then X might collapse as more and more advertisers decide they don’t want to be associated with it. That, I think, is the way forward.
I will miss many people and groups whose posts I’ve enjoyed. I hope to see them on other sites. Some I do already.
If you want to find me on social media I’m here:
That’s a lot! One, I guess, will come to dominate as far as my interests and contacts go but I don’t know which one yet. I’ve been on Facebook even longer than on Twitter and it’s the busiest of those five for me at present. I’ve been on Instagram for many years too but until recently I only used it to post occasional phone photos. Threads, the third and newest Meta social media app, I joined last year and am still learning about. It is the one most like Twitter. These three are all owned by another tech billionaire of course, Mark Zuckerberg. So far, he’s preferable to Musk.
Crowd-funded and non-profit, Mastodon is a bit different and a bit more complex. I like it but using it can be challenging. Over a year after joining I’m not sure I’m using it to its full potential.
Bluesky I only joined a few weeks ago and I don’t know much about it yet.
So it’s goodbye to what was once Twitter. I hope to see many of you on different social media
