Great post. I left Facebook around seven years ago and don’t miss it. I left Twitter after Elon Musk bought it and what he’s done to it since vindicates my decision. My genuine “blue check” would be gone. Many of the people I interacted with are gone. Others I want nothing to do with have joined.
I initially signed up with Mastodon. I liked a lot about it but I realized that what I liked about Twitter, aside from the go-to place for breaking news, was the ecosystem I’d built up over nine years. I had a fantastic network of writers, policy experts, artists, musicians and journalists. Mastodon made me realize I didn’t want social media for social media’s sake and I haven’t posted there for months.
Then, I opened an Instagram account. I have found several old friends there and discovered some great pages. But I hate being bombarded by ads constantly and I dislike the Tik-Tok-ization of too many posts. The pressure to animate posts (turn them into reels) and use soundtracks is too much. The algorithms also clearly reward constant posting. But I’m staying for now. Threads, which you make sound awful, is not available in the E.U. I have nowhere else to go.
You're spot on here Sree, though I have two points. First, the anti-semitism on Twitter has gotten worse, to a point where it's almost unavoidable because people I follow are responding to the anti-semitism. It will make me exit Twitter. Second, there is much drama on IG and has been, especially among teens and young women. It's hard to think it's harmless when Meta allows "you're ugly go kill yourself" comments on IG. But is Twitter dead? Many real people have spent much time building up accounts over years and years. I understand that it's hard to leave that behind especially when at this point we have no real replacement. But, personally, I can't bear it any more. BTW, you can DM on T2. I've left you a DM there. :-)
Thank you for sharing this! I haven't joined Threads, though I recently joined Blue Sky -- much of my Twitter community (primarily people working in nonprofit political advocacy on social justice issues) seems to have migrated to Bluesky instead of Threads. I'd be curious to hear your take on how it compares to Threads.
Sree, with respect, I think you’re underrating just how impossible Twitter has become and overestimating the problems with Threads. I rarely tweet anymore, partly because the algorithm downgrades my tweets so much that they get very little engagement now (vs a ton for many years). I have longstanding friends IRL who say they never see my tweets. This is, I presume, because I won’t pay for phony verification. But you also underrate the return of bigotry, hate and lying - and especially antisemitism - which the owner not only won’t stop but appears to support (most recently the attacks on the ADL). This is driving me off Twitter for good.
As for Threads, I have a fraction of the followers but much better engagement there. And I see lots of notable people and big brands. You’re right that it launched with too few features, but they’re adding them steadily. Of course Meta will violate privacy, but I was already on IG and FB, so Threads doesn’t change that problem much. I have been harshly critical of Zuckerberg and even quit Meta properties for a couple of years pre-pandemic. But, in my particular feeds on Thread, I haven’t seen any hate speech or obviously malicious misinformation. The whole vibe is way more civil. So there’s reason for hope. But, whatever happens with Threads, I cannot support Twitter anymore. It might as well be Truth Social.
Great post. I left Facebook around seven years ago and don’t miss it. I left Twitter after Elon Musk bought it and what he’s done to it since vindicates my decision. My genuine “blue check” would be gone. Many of the people I interacted with are gone. Others I want nothing to do with have joined.
I initially signed up with Mastodon. I liked a lot about it but I realized that what I liked about Twitter, aside from the go-to place for breaking news, was the ecosystem I’d built up over nine years. I had a fantastic network of writers, policy experts, artists, musicians and journalists. Mastodon made me realize I didn’t want social media for social media’s sake and I haven’t posted there for months.
Then, I opened an Instagram account. I have found several old friends there and discovered some great pages. But I hate being bombarded by ads constantly and I dislike the Tik-Tok-ization of too many posts. The pressure to animate posts (turn them into reels) and use soundtracks is too much. The algorithms also clearly reward constant posting. But I’m staying for now. Threads, which you make sound awful, is not available in the E.U. I have nowhere else to go.
You're spot on here Sree, though I have two points. First, the anti-semitism on Twitter has gotten worse, to a point where it's almost unavoidable because people I follow are responding to the anti-semitism. It will make me exit Twitter. Second, there is much drama on IG and has been, especially among teens and young women. It's hard to think it's harmless when Meta allows "you're ugly go kill yourself" comments on IG. But is Twitter dead? Many real people have spent much time building up accounts over years and years. I understand that it's hard to leave that behind especially when at this point we have no real replacement. But, personally, I can't bear it any more. BTW, you can DM on T2. I've left you a DM there. :-)
Thank you for sharing this! I haven't joined Threads, though I recently joined Blue Sky -- much of my Twitter community (primarily people working in nonprofit political advocacy on social justice issues) seems to have migrated to Bluesky instead of Threads. I'd be curious to hear your take on how it compares to Threads.
Sree, with respect, I think you’re underrating just how impossible Twitter has become and overestimating the problems with Threads. I rarely tweet anymore, partly because the algorithm downgrades my tweets so much that they get very little engagement now (vs a ton for many years). I have longstanding friends IRL who say they never see my tweets. This is, I presume, because I won’t pay for phony verification. But you also underrate the return of bigotry, hate and lying - and especially antisemitism - which the owner not only won’t stop but appears to support (most recently the attacks on the ADL). This is driving me off Twitter for good.
As for Threads, I have a fraction of the followers but much better engagement there. And I see lots of notable people and big brands. You’re right that it launched with too few features, but they’re adding them steadily. Of course Meta will violate privacy, but I was already on IG and FB, so Threads doesn’t change that problem much. I have been harshly critical of Zuckerberg and even quit Meta properties for a couple of years pre-pandemic. But, in my particular feeds on Thread, I haven’t seen any hate speech or obviously malicious misinformation. The whole vibe is way more civil. So there’s reason for hope. But, whatever happens with Threads, I cannot support Twitter anymore. It might as well be Truth Social.