Oh, Twitter: the site I called home for the last fifteen years online. This was the website where I grew life-long friendships. It was a space that took global communication to the next level. One I had never experienced before.
Melancholy. Gloom. Observing its demise is like watching the last of the campfire's embers, barely burning. It’s only a matter of time before it's extinguished completely.
I often say I’m “extremely online” — I have been since I was twelve. It started with chat rooms and ICQ, moving into MSN Messenger and AIM. Using platforms like LiveJournal and Tumblr before finally heading to MySpace.
SIDEBAR!
Take a moment and reminisce with me, if you will, on the vibe of MySpace: coding basic HTML and adding songs to greet visitors was everything. I changed the song almost daily to represent my current mood. If you logged on to my page you could tell if I was in love (or lust), happy, down in the dumps, or chilled out to the max. I discovered new music by visiting random pages and making new friends. This was well before the algorithms of our streaming platforms took over. I received inspiration from those random pages to better code my own space. I made new friends around the globe and was a part of the world-wide social media glow up.
Compared to more isolated platforms like ICQ and AIM, it was a completely different ballgame. It was unique and there hasn’t been a comparable platform since it vanished, IMO.
Alright, now that’s out…
MySpace was the place to be in the early 2000s. I started to meet fellow fans of my favorite bands (Dave Matthews Band, most notably) from all over the world. Finally, I landed on Twitter because of the band and our fandom.
In the fall of 2008, Dave Matthews joined Twitter. I signed up one year prior (because I like to be on the bleeding edge) and noticed a lot of my MySpace pals migrated there to converse with him (and each other). He interacted with us — a lot. It was incredible and unbelievable — my favorite rock star was accessible. It was the dawn of a new era. The curtains parted, invited us backstage to meet and greet the artists we love as the platform grew.
The more interactive Dave was with fans, the more fans I met and became friends with IRL. We made plans and met up at shows all across the country. Some of those friends I made came to my bridal shower and we talk daily. We still meet up at shows and reminisce about the little website that brought us all together once upon a time. And laugh about the drama that came along with it.
Twitter’s early vibe was incredible. Vibrant, even. When the newness of it faded, it still felt like home. It evolved — we changed with it and even though there were some dark corners, I always preferred it to any other platform I had been a part of in the past. When it took off, it became the place I read news the most. I could follow every outlet I enjoyed reading and keep up with global news. It had everything I wanted in a social platform: pop culture and politics, long and short form articles, small bites of poetry and prose, and conversations with people.
And then, in the matter of a week, the site was lit on fire. Left to watch the fallout, clinging to the platform we once loved. Collectively, we began to say goodbye when we read about the mass layoffs and worried what would become of our little home on the web. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if by this time next week, the website goes bankrupt and it disappears from the web completely.
What finally pushed me away? What prompted me to bid my own farewell on my page? Security and moderation, or lack thereof. I will no longer be on a platform that encourages the spread of hatred and misinformation. That is not "free speech" -- it's irresponsible. And it just keeps getting worse. In mid-December, news broke that the Trust and Safety Advisory Group at Twitter had been disbanded shortly before a meeting was to take place on December 12 with said group.
This, coupled with the fact several other teams have been let go once the company switched hands, only makes the platform more vulnerable and eventually it will become unusable for the masses. When these engineers and other important teams/positions were eliminated from the company, a lot of us moved to Mastodon. I like it, but I’m truly starting over. It’s hard to find people because it’s decentralized (a model I really appreciate), but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t frustrating to get situated. I did find a decent tool to help me migrate follows, but it only works if users have their Mastodon handle listed somewhere on their Twitter profile.
This move makes me realize… I’m kind of over traditional social media. I haven’t felt the need for a long time to post many times in a day unless I’m having a conversation with someone. I’ve become a lurker, a doom-scroller, quietly favoriting/retweeting content. That doesn’t work so well when you’re starting over and trying to engage with a new community. To be honest, it’s kind of exhausting. Maybe this is why I thrive as a Redditor?
It’s easier to leave than to be left. I sit here now, listening to the band play its final notes as the ship sinks, silently watching from the sidelines. The platform I called home for a decade and a half, the place where I met so many great people and had fantastic conversations, witnessing it fade from existence. We are now left wondering what the future of being social on the internet will look like in this new era.
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