I can refund your subscription, if you'd like. You see that big giant ass image at the top in one of the world's most celebrated magazines? That makes it newsworthy, friend. And by the way! You're commenting on someone you consider to be too trivial to comment on, too! Funny how that works.
Fact is, Twitter could sink into the sea today, and other than the self-important types who define themselves in terms of their blue checkmark status and the number of their followers, life would go on pretty much as it always has, at least for the rest of us.
You're right, but I kind of want Twitter to go away for all the reasons you said. It's a place where extremely haughty people can sneer and be mean to others in the name of "social justice" and get away with it.
And the idea that the platform is a "voice for the marginalized people" is utterly laughable. This tweet right here, as well as the one it quotes, pretty much gives the game away that the real point of Twitter is to be a bully. It's to battle for power in elite discourse. https://mobile.twitter.com/byjoelanderson/status/1591118750517850114
I don’t know. I’ve learned so much about the marginalized on that platform that’s fueled by media elites, social media professionals, professional internet characters, and trolls. Where else can I find out what life is like for the newly arrived undocumented immigrant than on a smartphone media platform?????
Ugh, now I am reminded of the band of pathetic losers who whined until you put up an automated twitter feed for your posts. As I've said before, this was like offering a heroin addict just a little bit of that good old black tar, but don't worry, you won't slip back into bad habits...
If you saw the same "If I don't need X in order to succeed, nobody else does either!" logic literally anywhere else, you'd fly into a rage. You don't need Twitter today because you already have your foot well in the door re: name recognition, connections and everything else needed to cut through the noise.
I cannot stress enough that it's well established, empirically, that Twitter does not drive traffic. I saw one analysis that showed that Facebook drives SEVENTY TIMES the traffic of Twitter. If the point is to get eyes on your work, isn't that very relevant?
as a generality you are correct, but it depends on the type of content you have. facebook has dominated by normies/boomers, so my content has a much higher ratio of twitter than facebook than is typical
(twitter does drive a fair amount of my paid subscriptions too; i may be atypical)
It wouldn't be traffic that would be the key metric, would it, in terms of establishing careers? Wouldn't it have more to do with what gets people noticed by editors or established journalists, ie the people who facilitate them getting bylines? My sense is that media people are much more likely to notice young talent via Twitter, but maybe that's wrong. Also, even if true, it couldn't possibly compensate for all the terrible things about Twitter. And if Twitter dies (which I agree it won't), there will still be plenty of other online platforms through which new talent can get noticed. The great opening up of the media started before Twitter was a big factor, with blogs and online magazines. It's not going to revert to the old regime if Twitter dies.
I have no idea what will happen. According to Elon, the company as structured before he took over was burning through several million dollars a day. That was certainly not sustainable.
My biggest takeaway so far is the incredible irony of countless people taking to Twitter to predict the demise of Twitter.
I would be very surprised if Elon has a hard time keeping it working from a technical standpoint. If he can launch rocket ships, I suspect he can keep an app working.
Much of the predicted demise is based on its users distaste of Elon and their threats to quit the service as a result. But most of them can't even resist posting their threats to quit on Twitter. That's what I find ironic.
He depends on software engineers to keep the app running, and he's not only laid off many of them, but expects those who stay on to "write great code" while demanding they work long hours at high intensity--a prescription for negative productivity for just about any intellectual task.
If he were just mouthing off, that would be one thing, but that's not what he's doing.
Plus, Twitter is much more than just "an app"; there are HALF A BILLION tweets per day. Launching a rocket ship strikes me as being quite a bit simpler, not that Elon knows anything about the technical side of that either.
I don't think platforms like this die suddenly, they just slowly lose their network effects and fade away, like Myspace or ICQ or Livejournal. In fact I believe that last one is still holding on in a couple countries!
"performative enjoyment of other people’s jokes"
i had a friend in HS that was a jock and he invited to me to the jock parties...and they would performatively enjoy each other's jokes. i hated it. i hated those parties. now i realize that that same pattern plays out on twitter communities and that's why it's so toxic. fake
This is generating a lot of thoughts. I'm seeing so many writers I follow on Twitter talking about how it "built their career," got them book deals, got them in rooms with editors/agents, etc. etc., and I'm just so curious how, in reality, that happens. I don't know what I'm talking about, but I suspect that the people who had this experience also have spent a metric shit-ton of time on Twitter for the past 12 years or whatever. It seems like unless you're willing to be there tweeting 60+ times a day, it's not going to reward you with career opportunities *or* connections to other people/some kind of online community. Maybe I just never hacked how to use it well.
I do think there was a golden time when super heavy Twitter users were able to build a real following/get real opportunities out of it, but I personally am baffled as to how that could have happened (without the luck of a massively viral post) for many writers in the past couple years, since as you said Twitter generates basically no engagement and buries external links. Even for huge publications/writers--they'll have 60K followers and 16 likes on a tweet.
I think the people lamenting the (not yet realized) loss of Twitter are the ones who did manage to tap into that golden time and who for some reason really did "make it" via Twitter, career-wise or building community-wise. I just don't know if they realize how atypical an experience that is. Or maybe my tweets and writing just aren't good. Lol.
As a longtime resident of Book World, I just saw Twitter making public the literary careerism, nepotism, capitalism, raging jealousy, and corruption that had always remained far more private.
"This newsletter makes a quarter of a million dollars a year."
Back of envelop math: $5 per month per subscriber = $60/year. 250,000/60 = nearly 4200 paying subscribers (unless some pay more than $5 a month??). Not too shabby.
Elon Musk seems to be doing a bunch of things that need to be done (cut payroll, make the remaining workforce more productive, find different sources of revenue) in the stupidest, most damaging ways possible.
There is a real danger that Musk drives Twitter into the ground, and he'll have to sell it at a loss, but Twitter will live on.
Does it need to? No.
Do I want it to? I don't really care.
Although, I have been having fun defending Musk against my Musk hating friends, and defending Twitter against my Twitter hating friends.
And you're correct, writers will do fine without Twitter. Writers write.
I can refund your subscription, if you'd like. You see that big giant ass image at the top in one of the world's most celebrated magazines? That makes it newsworthy, friend. And by the way! You're commenting on someone you consider to be too trivial to comment on, too! Funny how that works.
The Hunger Games was actually a thinly veiled allegory of YA Twitter.
FIRST!!!!
i've been blogging for 20 years continuously now. more than 20. unless i die of a heart attack i'm going to be around for another 20.
[sorry about the morbidness, but everyone in my family dies of heart issues, not cancer]
You keep elevating your Firsting game. HOF (Hall of Firsters) material.
Were you born to First, or did you have to train over may years of commenting on blogs to hone your Firsting skills?
first-born
A first-born Firster, eh?
Shakespeare wouldn't have gotten anywhere without social media buzz.
Fact is, Twitter could sink into the sea today, and other than the self-important types who define themselves in terms of their blue checkmark status and the number of their followers, life would go on pretty much as it always has, at least for the rest of us.
You're right, but I kind of want Twitter to go away for all the reasons you said. It's a place where extremely haughty people can sneer and be mean to others in the name of "social justice" and get away with it.
And the idea that the platform is a "voice for the marginalized people" is utterly laughable. This tweet right here, as well as the one it quotes, pretty much gives the game away that the real point of Twitter is to be a bully. It's to battle for power in elite discourse. https://mobile.twitter.com/byjoelanderson/status/1591118750517850114
I want Twitter to go away because it will make it easier for me to get the hell off of Twitter!
Would someone please take this bottle out of my hand before I have another drink?
I don’t know. I’ve learned so much about the marginalized on that platform that’s fueled by media elites, social media professionals, professional internet characters, and trolls. Where else can I find out what life is like for the newly arrived undocumented immigrant than on a smartphone media platform?????
Ugh, now I am reminded of the band of pathetic losers who whined until you put up an automated twitter feed for your posts. As I've said before, this was like offering a heroin addict just a little bit of that good old black tar, but don't worry, you won't slip back into bad habits...
If you saw the same "If I don't need X in order to succeed, nobody else does either!" logic literally anywhere else, you'd fly into a rage. You don't need Twitter today because you already have your foot well in the door re: name recognition, connections and everything else needed to cut through the noise.
I cannot stress enough that it's well established, empirically, that Twitter does not drive traffic. I saw one analysis that showed that Facebook drives SEVENTY TIMES the traffic of Twitter. If the point is to get eyes on your work, isn't that very relevant?
as a generality you are correct, but it depends on the type of content you have. facebook has dominated by normies/boomers, so my content has a much higher ratio of twitter than facebook than is typical
(twitter does drive a fair amount of my paid subscriptions too; i may be atypical)
It wouldn't be traffic that would be the key metric, would it, in terms of establishing careers? Wouldn't it have more to do with what gets people noticed by editors or established journalists, ie the people who facilitate them getting bylines? My sense is that media people are much more likely to notice young talent via Twitter, but maybe that's wrong. Also, even if true, it couldn't possibly compensate for all the terrible things about Twitter. And if Twitter dies (which I agree it won't), there will still be plenty of other online platforms through which new talent can get noticed. The great opening up of the media started before Twitter was a big factor, with blogs and online magazines. It's not going to revert to the old regime if Twitter dies.
if you produce great content like erik hoel it doesn't matter how u make a scene on twitter
Ugh! Why is it that Twitter seems like high school all over again....and again and again...forever?
I hated high school. I was glad when it ended.
I'm not as confident as you are that Twitter won't die. Currently, it's being run by someone who is flailing about like an idiot.
True
I have no idea what will happen. According to Elon, the company as structured before he took over was burning through several million dollars a day. That was certainly not sustainable.
My biggest takeaway so far is the incredible irony of countless people taking to Twitter to predict the demise of Twitter.
I don't find it ironic. Twitter may die sometime soon-ish, but it still works for the time being.
I would be very surprised if Elon has a hard time keeping it working from a technical standpoint. If he can launch rocket ships, I suspect he can keep an app working.
Much of the predicted demise is based on its users distaste of Elon and their threats to quit the service as a result. But most of them can't even resist posting their threats to quit on Twitter. That's what I find ironic.
He depends on software engineers to keep the app running, and he's not only laid off many of them, but expects those who stay on to "write great code" while demanding they work long hours at high intensity--a prescription for negative productivity for just about any intellectual task.
If he were just mouthing off, that would be one thing, but that's not what he's doing.
Plus, Twitter is much more than just "an app"; there are HALF A BILLION tweets per day. Launching a rocket ship strikes me as being quite a bit simpler, not that Elon knows anything about the technical side of that either.
I don't think platforms like this die suddenly, they just slowly lose their network effects and fade away, like Myspace or ICQ or Livejournal. In fact I believe that last one is still holding on in a couple countries!
"performative enjoyment of other people’s jokes"
i had a friend in HS that was a jock and he invited to me to the jock parties...and they would performatively enjoy each other's jokes. i hated it. i hated those parties. now i realize that that same pattern plays out on twitter communities and that's why it's so toxic. fake
I'd put money on Twitter still existing in 5 years, but then again, Livejournal still exists.
so does myspace.com
This is generating a lot of thoughts. I'm seeing so many writers I follow on Twitter talking about how it "built their career," got them book deals, got them in rooms with editors/agents, etc. etc., and I'm just so curious how, in reality, that happens. I don't know what I'm talking about, but I suspect that the people who had this experience also have spent a metric shit-ton of time on Twitter for the past 12 years or whatever. It seems like unless you're willing to be there tweeting 60+ times a day, it's not going to reward you with career opportunities *or* connections to other people/some kind of online community. Maybe I just never hacked how to use it well.
I do think there was a golden time when super heavy Twitter users were able to build a real following/get real opportunities out of it, but I personally am baffled as to how that could have happened (without the luck of a massively viral post) for many writers in the past couple years, since as you said Twitter generates basically no engagement and buries external links. Even for huge publications/writers--they'll have 60K followers and 16 likes on a tweet.
I think the people lamenting the (not yet realized) loss of Twitter are the ones who did manage to tap into that golden time and who for some reason really did "make it" via Twitter, career-wise or building community-wise. I just don't know if they realize how atypical an experience that is. Or maybe my tweets and writing just aren't good. Lol.
Bravo!
As a longtime resident of Book World, I just saw Twitter making public the literary careerism, nepotism, capitalism, raging jealousy, and corruption that had always remained far more private.
"This newsletter makes a quarter of a million dollars a year."
Back of envelop math: $5 per month per subscriber = $60/year. 250,000/60 = nearly 4200 paying subscribers (unless some pay more than $5 a month??). Not too shabby.
Freddie - it ain't bragging if it's true.
Elon Musk seems to be doing a bunch of things that need to be done (cut payroll, make the remaining workforce more productive, find different sources of revenue) in the stupidest, most damaging ways possible.
There is a real danger that Musk drives Twitter into the ground, and he'll have to sell it at a loss, but Twitter will live on.
Does it need to? No.
Do I want it to? I don't really care.
Although, I have been having fun defending Musk against my Musk hating friends, and defending Twitter against my Twitter hating friends.
And you're correct, writers will do fine without Twitter. Writers write.