I’m not a big user of other social media other than Twitter, which I have been using for many years. I have always found the idea of writing your ideas or thoughts in a limited number of words intriguing. Maybe it was the inner writer in me trying to get out; I don’t know.
For five or six years, I never really posted anything, just listening. Then Brexit came along, and I started to post as well, meaning that my personal account has become very political.
When Elon Musk took over Twitter, I had my concerns, which I wrote about in a blog post called “My Twitter Takeover Concerns.” These concerns were realised not long after, with the ability to buy blue ticks. I even asked in another blog post if those blue ticks are now worthless.
But Twitter also played a role in how I consumed the news and came to terms with the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who had been Queen of Great Britain for my entire life.
In the last few weeks, X has tracked my comments on Twitter to train an AI model. When I discovered this, I reported it to the Information Commission Office in the UK as this breached the Data Protection Act via Twitter.
Elon Musk has since supported far-right fascist protestors and attacked free speech in the UK. Twitter has become a poisoned environment, and some people are leaving It here in the UK, including Labour MPs.
The benefits of Twitter: A virtual meeting hall
At its best, Twitter is a virtual meeting hall that allows people to express their thoughts and opinions quickly and easily. Others can then reply, resend, or like these posts easily. Allowing the sharing of information quickly.
Twitter, at its best, allows communities to unite and share experiences such as winning or losing a sporting event or navigating the uncertainty of losing a long-serving monarchy.
But there is a downside to this.
The downside of Twitter: An echo chamber
This downside is due to the algorithm used by Twitter and most other Social Media sites designed to keep you on there services by feeding you the things you like. Similar algorithms are used on Netflix to recommend the next TV series for you to watch or by Spotify for the next track you will love.
By feeding you the content, the algorithm knows what you like. You can unknowingly enter an echo chamber of people with the same thoughts and opinions as you.
A personal example of this is during the 2019 General Election. I thought Labour had a chance of winning as I followed many hopeful Labour members. In reality, they suffered the biggest defeat in almost a century.
Concerns about Twitter ownership
As a Twitter user, I was concerned during the bid and even posted about it during the time. My big concern was around the loss of free speech and the undermining of that right due to people not taking their responsibility around free speech seriously. Those responsibilities are.
- Respect the opinions of others.
- Don’t threaten or bully others.
- Don’t spread misinformation or lie.
When writing, I realised that my concerns over Twitter weren’t just related to Twitter but to Social Media in general. I think it’s actually worth a read, especially the networking effect of social media limiting competition. I believe this is a subject I will write about again.
Alternatives to Twitter
As I stated in my introduction to this post, what attracted me to Twitter in the first place was its focus on the written word, and therefore, any replacement should have a similar focus. The likes of Instagram hold no interest for me.
I’m on Mastodon, and I like Mastodon because it’s more respectful. It follows the etiquette of adding warnings if posting about politics or sports, allowing people to ignore posts that they are not interested in. However, I also find it too quiet. It’s a nice location for breaks, but I don’t want to stay permanently.
Meta, seeing a potential opening in the microblogging market, launched a new Social media application called Threads, and we also have Bluesky.
Conclusion
For now, I will use Twitter for personal use but will stop advertising posts on CTNET.
I’m happy to discuss this further on the blog, Twitter or Mastodon.
I would appreciate it if you could fill out our feedback survey form to help us improve the quality of our content.