Anybody considering leaving Twitter?

[Todd]

I dunno...I give the site maybe a year? It's hard to say, when the owner doesn't really seem invested in its success.

From the Financial Times: Elon Musk says Twitter may reach positive cash flow by second quarter

Twitter was not the picture of financial health before Musk took over.  Doomsayers and gossip hounds predicted Twitter would disappear in mere months after Musk bought it.  Perhaps Musk fails, or perhaps his idea of success - financial success - is the real one and the collective internet opinion is the phony one.

[JBS]

I deactivated my account this morning. 
It is of course possible that I'll change my mind; but the amount and value of the information I was getting from it continued to go down, and the algorithm seems to determine to force depressing news and anger-provoking posts repeatedly into my view. 

So bye bye birdy.

[ChamberNut]

I deactivated my account this morning. 
It is of course possible that I'll change my mind; but the amount and value of the information I was getting from it continued to go down, and the algorithm seems to determine to force depressing news and anger-provoking posts repeatedly into my view. 

So bye bye birdy.

I'm about to leave as well, I think.  Plus, it is pointless comment on any kind of post unless you have > 1,000 followers, it seems.

[amw]

Apparently the app has been changed primarily to offer additional benefits to subscribers (their replies appear first, their posts are boosted in the algorithm, etc). Basically it's moved from being a free app to a freemium one. The costs of becoming a verified organisation have also led a number of groups i follow (notably, local transit alerts) to abandon the app. The results represent a fundamental misunderstanding of the business model (people used it because everyone important was there; that's no longer true) and indicate that it's turning into something more like a web forum, and I participate in enough of those already. Perhaps it's "making profits" now but it is no longer the public utility it used to be.

Will also say that every former mutual or follower I know who is Jewish now receives, under every post, anywhere from 5 to 100 replies from blue check accounts consisting of ✡️ emojis and antisemitic memes (ranging from "check the nose", "early life", "the tribe", "can't stop noticing" to  "when your tribe was driven out of 190 countries maybe there's a good reason for it" to straight up photos of Hitler). The current system enables this kind of trolling, which seems to go unpunished as long as it's done by a twitter subscriber. Such an environment is obviously unappealing.

I deactivated my own account a while back so I don't have first hand confirmation of this but I've seen many examples.

[JBS]

I deactivated my account this morning. 
It is of course possible that I'll change my mind; but the amount and value of the information I was getting from it continued to go down, and the algorithm seems to determine to force depressing news and anger-provoking posts repeatedly into my view. 

So bye bye birdy.

And I changed my mind.
I spent a bit of time today rooting through Post and Spoutible, and discovering that as bad as it is, Twitter still has a broader range of information sources, more variety of topics, and is less of an Democratic echo chamber than they are. Same with Mastodon although not as badly.

The core problem I think is that these competing platforms haven't attracted enough members to allow the range--US historians, UK archeologists, Jewish and Islamic academics, Ukrainian and Israeli journalists, Palestinians living in Europe (to take some of the people I follow on Twitter)--that Twitter still offers.

[Todd]

The results represent a fundamental misunderstanding of the business model (people used it because everyone important was there; that's no longer true)...

And it was free. Freemium is likely a more sustainable model.

Perhaps it's "making profits" now but it is no longer the public utility it used to be.

It was never a public utility.  That was a false aspirational description used by a tiny minority of netizens who believed, and some probably still believe, that the various regulatory models applied to actual utilities might work for webpages.  Also, Twitter is not yet profitable, but it will soon have positive free cash flow, which is more important.  Ask Jeff Bezos.

Since many people enjoyed Twitter and the barriers to entry to building webpages are basically nil, enterprising tech bros, or others, should get right on starting competing firms.

[Brian]

Since many people enjoyed Twitter and the barriers to entry to building webpages are basically nil, enterprising tech bros, or others, should get right on starting competing firms.

There are many rival "new" Twitters already, so many that I am getting impatient for consensus to form so I don't go out and sign up for the Betamax or HDDVD of nattering on the internet. So far many are saddled with pointless additions to the platform. Mastodon makes you sign up for a series of enclosed servers, instead of just plugging in to one big universe of people trash talking each other. Spoutible is saddled with performative "rah rah Elon sucks" marketing that makes me think it is a scam of some kind. From what I hear, Bluesky has the correct chaotic energy, but they're currently only allowing beta testers selected from the media and influencer communities, so I can't see for myself.

Edit: Oh, JBS already said this very well. This is what I get for coming back from vacation and not reading everything!

[Brian]

Apparently the app has been changed primarily to offer additional benefits to subscribers (their replies appear first, their posts are boosted in the algorithm, etc).

One thing I noticed while traveling this weekend was that every morning, the Twitter app had sent my phone three or more overnight push notifications showing tweets from random celebrities I don't follow, without context, except a category. One of them, for example, said "Sports," followed by part of an ESPN announcer's tweet. The feature is so bad that they don't even show the full message, just the first 20 ish characters, so I don't even know what sport they were talking about.

I'll probably very quickly delete the app if it keeps sending this spam.

[Spotted Horses]

One thing I noticed while traveling this weekend was that every morning, the Twitter app had sent my phone three or more overnight push notifications showing tweets from random celebrities I don't follow, without context, except a category. One of them, for example, said "Sports," followed by part of an ESPN announcer's tweet. The feature is so bad that they don't even show the full message, just the first 20 ish characters, so I don't even know what sport they were talking about.

I'll probably very quickly delete the app if it keeps sending this spam.

This highlights what I see as the defining characteristic of "social media." They decide what I will see, not me. Content appearing on my "wall," or "feed' or whatever they call it now is not restricted to people I follow, am "friends" with. It is dominated spam that their algorithm thinks I will click on to make them a few cents. If I see something from one of my contacts, it will be gone after my page automatically refreshes itself, or I return to the site, only findable after a painful search, if at all. On twitter I get incessant notifications from someone who, I have no idea who they are. Facebook has decided I am obsessed with Paul McCartney and I see endless throwback photos and laudatory blurbs about how he is the most wonderful example of the human species ever. I imagine a version of Facebook or twitter where I only see posts by my contacts, and maybe some ads for corn flakes.

[Todd]

There are many rival "new" Twitters already, so many that I am getting impatient for consensus to form so I don't go out and sign up for the Betamax or HDDVD of nattering on the internet.

Are they all free?  If so, signing up and using one for a while and then ditching is decidedly painless, especially compared to the money laid out on all those Betamax tapes when they were new . . .

[Karl Henning]

Yes, keep us posted on how that tactic goes, especially if it continues to be a good decision. Who knows, the algorithm may favor new accounts. (I have given up trying to figure out what Musk wants/expects out of all of this.)

-Bruce

Even with the spike in activity which we might expect the "Town Hall" to have inspired, my feed has been clean as a pastor's sheets (to borrow a phrase from True Lies. So I consider the ongoing experiment successful thus far.

[greg]

[Karl Henning]

More trolls than usual in my feed today, as a result of the Arraignment, so I'm doing a lot of blocking ....

[Que]

I used to follow a few Twitter accounts to keep up with developments in Ukraine. But since yesterday Twitter doesn't allow reading posts without an account/being logged in.

Well, that was that then... 

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I used to follow a few Twitter accounts to keep up with developments in Ukraine. But since yesterday Twitter doesn't allow reading posts without an account/being logged in.

Well, that was that then... 

Yes, I discovered that too.  Even less incentive now to create a Twitter account.

PD

[AnotherSpin]

I used to follow a few Twitter accounts to keep up with developments in Ukraine. But since yesterday Twitter doesn't allow reading posts without an account/being logged in.

Well, that was that then... 

Whose accounts have you watched to keep up with developments in Ukraine?

[71 dB]

How is Twitter still a thing? I thought it would have totally imploded months ago... 

[Todd]

How is Twitter still a thing? I thought it would have totally imploded months ago... 

Multiple GMG posters predicted Twitter's swift demise.  Turns out people who run businesses don't post on GMG. 

Maybe Ms Yaccarino will take the site to new heights:

Linda Yaccarino's vision for Twitter 2.0 emerges

CEO hits ground running with plans for new advertisement offering while telling staff to ready for 'hand-to-hand combat'

[JBS]

Meanwhile this is what I see when I check my TL or profile

[Jo498]

Seems a general server problem since about 4-5 hours; I got the same when accessing with PC but it intermittently worked from my phone, neither well nor reliable, though.