I finally managed to get to the point where I am ready to explain out loud why I am leaving Twitter. A notion I never ever thought possible. Twitter was always my happy place, the place I felt able to just hang out, barge into somebody else’s conversation, chat to a celeb like I we had been best friends forever, and spout what was on my mind knowing somebody would offer their own words of advice or support within a few minutes.
But now? Now it feels like a cesspit and somewhere I no longer want to be. Like that club you used to hang out in, where you met your best friend but whenever you have visited recently a fight has broken out and you just don’t want to walk through all the spilt pints on the floor or witness a slanging match in the corner opposite. Where if you start a conversation around something you really like or on an issue in the news you know an onlooker is going to take exception to your stance and and pick a fight with you. Even on the most innocuous of subjects. Where you didnt dare mention politics or Brexit because you would instantly get torn a new one.
It has been awhile coming to be honest, from long before Musk took over and changed its name. I don’t even know if we can call it Twitter anymore which is daft because that is the URL, yet read any article about it now and it is referred to “X, formerly known as Twitter”. The first rule of branding is that your name has to be memorable and trip off the tongue, having to constantly refer to what it once was is just ridiculous and every time I read that now I roll my eyes. What on earth is he thinking?
When we think about what it once was I am sad for what it has now become. It’s a barren wasteland of people like me who are not sure if they are really ready to slam the door shut on it, and diehards who are still posting to an ever decreasing audience.
This week there was talk of Elon Musk, who bought the joint for $44 billion back in April 2022, charging users who are on the platform. He says it is to get rid of the bots, those of us that use it say this is the final straw.
We have clung on for the past 18 months hoping something would change for the better and that investment and a change of direction would take it back to what it once was, one of the best places on the internet to hang out. I have long been a huge supporter of Twitter, after all it is where MummyBarrow was born back in 2009, long before this blog or any of my other social media accounts came to life.
Many of us gathered first thing in the morning to share an early morning brew, developing friendships that for many of us have lasted to this day. I know of several marriages that have come about from people who met whilst chatting about common interests. The use of the # meant it was easy to find people talking about the same TV programme and therefore we could join similarly outraged or emotional watchers to chat regardless of location.
It is the platform where people would rush when something disastrous had happened. Either for instant on the ground news, to check for a loved one, or to offer support. Who could forget for instance back in 2015 after the Paris Bataclan attack people Tweeting #PorteOuverte to say they had spare beds if anyone wanted them. That their door was literally open if anybody affected needed anything all they needed to do was reply to the tweet. I cant imagine any other way of that happening.
Now that has gone.
Killed by a man whose ego was bigger than the bigger picture. Bigger than the $44 billion he paid for it. He bought it and killed it stone dead. It will never recover. It needs to be killed humanely and given the burial it deserves.
In the meantime now if you want me I will be over on Threads. There’s a long way to go with it but it’s developing and Mosseri seems to be receptive to suggestions that need to be implemented and to keeping it a safe place to chat.