Twitter's rightwing takeover is complete. Why are liberals still on it?

[Lunabell]

It looks like they’ve finally done it. For years, the far right has repeatedly tried and failed to set up a social network of their own – one where they can spread conspiracy theories and sow hate without any of the pesky content moderation that happens on the big tech platforms...


In the meantime, everyone (myself included) who is still on Twitter has some hard questions to ask themselves. There is no pretending any more that Twitter is anything other than a far-right social network headed by a CEO who revels in chaos and is platforming extremism. So why are news organisations still on it? Why is anyone who considers themselves to have liberal values still on it?

Ego is probably the main answer to that question. A lot of journalists have built up very large followings on Twitter. Nostalgia is another factor: Twitter used to be fun and useful and it’s difficult to leave it behind. It’s time to start trying, though: we can’t keep hand-wringing about Twitter turning into a cocktail party for Nazis while stubbornly refusing to leave the room.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/03/twitter-conservative-media-elon-musk-ron-desantis?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

[PSPS]

1. Twitter must be some kind of addiction, like Facebook and the rest.

I've never been interested in Twitter and, yes, believe it or not, my life is still worth living! Really!!

[forgotmylogin]

15. I kind of agree.

I stayed clear of it for a while but then started browsing a bit again, saying I wouldn't participate. But there's so much rightwing nonsense it's almost not worth it because all I do now is snarkily reply to stupid people.

Plus until I blocked them, the top of my timeline was always something Marjorie Taylor Greene thought was important or Kevin McCarthy complaining multiple times per day that Biden wouldn't negotiate a deal.

It's basically become a platform for conspiracy theories and argument, and the inline ads have tripled.

I must admit I do get a visceral thrill out of arguing with right-wingers, but I need to stop that and Twitter now does nothing but infuriate me and show me video of car wrecks or people fight now for some reason. Likely due to all the algorithm tweaks plus most people I would enjoy reading Tweets from abandoning.

In fact, I'm sure I've seen multiple times where a Tweet criticizing a right winger appears in the timeline for a moment then vanishes like "you don't want to see this" so I'm sure they're boosting and nerfing content they feel is appropriate.

[calimary]

20. Same here. I don't engage there very much.

Not on Facebook that much, either. Dropped out of that for the most part after our son’s band broke up.

What’s hard for me is keeping track of all the damn logins and passwords needed. Keeping it simple (or more simple) is my new rule. I just turned 70. Love me anyway.

[Warpy]

28. It absolutely is and it's a feature, not a bug

as people frantically scroll through miles of garbage posts, afraid they'll miss something and look out of it if they don't.

I didn't like their business model, so I never did Fakebook. I had a Twitter account, but it died of neglect.

[brooklynite]

51. My life is worth living too, and I'm not addicted to Twitter.

One thing I'll never do is make predictions as to why other people do things that I don't.

[Hortensis]

75. While liberals still occupy it, there is NO RW takeover.

Last edited Sat Jun 3, 2023, 10:20 PM - Edit history (1)

That's basic: Twitter isn't its owners: It's its users and its content. Liberalism, knowledge, science, fact-based truth and top experts on all subjects are all there.

Sure, many real, meaningful users are leaving. Out of principle.

But that's different from this rush of others to urge the surrender critical ground on issue after issue whenever a challenge arises, to want its creators to RUSH to abandon a great center of ideas and information where liberalism comes together from around the planet, to abandon state after state, hill after hill, all the while calling righteously for self segregation in some uncontested corner -- until that one's challenged too of course.

This is not unusual. It's a recurring pattern.

We have very different ideas of what we need to protect and fight for, that we need to at all, and how. Clue: Surrender isn't.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. we must accelerate Twitter's decline by leaving

It's slow, but other sites are taking over. Stop clicking on Twitter links. i'm good to go.

[TheRealNorth]

4. +1

[CousinIT]

7. News, entertainment, online and other platforms need to start removing twitter links from their

sharing sections. Add Mastodon and Post or others instead.

[womanofthehills]

91. Over 70 million Americans are on Twitter

That’s a large percentage of the US population. The majority are young people. Do you guys really want all the Dems to leave Twitter and these seventy million people only be exposed to Republicans?

[BlackSkimmer]

99. I agree, but good luck with that.

We have some here do nothing but post twits. It's funny.

Even twits from unknown and unverified people are presented here as the absolute truth to an issue. Usually found to be false, but that doesn't stop it.

[TheRealNorth]

3. The reason Twitter is so important them.....

Is that allows them to put their shit out in front of people who don't already buy into it.

[PXR-5]

5. I left the Twitter when

The Mars rovers quit tweeting like 10 years ago.
I really don't care what any other human says on it, and it seemed no one cared for what I was saying either.

Never tried face book, and most likely will not.

Long Live DU!

[MOMFUDSKI]

29. Never did Twit

And got off Face as soon as my grandson got out of the Navy. Had a hell of a time getting out of Face.

[Mosby]

6. The thing is, you can follow who you want

And tailor your feed by disliking posts, and then giving feedback about why. The algorithm isn't perfect, but it works.

[CousinIT]

9. It has changed since Muskrat took it over. I read tweets of those I follow but ALL the responses

...are PURE NAZI HATE.

I never see any other responses. That did not used to be the case. If I'm not following the hate Nazis, why am I ONLY seeing their responses to those I do follow?

Something went to shit in that regard.

[demmiblue]

30. This is one of the reasons why:

As per the latest reports, the Twitter paid blue tick verified profiles will get added push in comment threads. To elaborate this, it means when comment thread on Twitter will happen, the paid blue tick mark verified profiles will get to post and see them at the top, above the non-verified profiles. This move came as a welcome by the paid profiles for blue tick marks, as it will give them more limelight.

https://www.techiexpert.com/blue-tick-verified-on-twitter-will-get-priority-ranking-in-replies/

It does make them easier to block, though!

[Emrys]

41. "It does make them easier to block, though!"

Yup. I block very freely nowadays. If I'm ever in any doubt in a split-second decision based on a single tweet, a blue tick usually tips the balance and off to Blockville they go (unless it's a Ukraine info account, for instance - their situation's desperate and I can understand why they cough up while wishing they didn't need to do so).

[Laura PourMeADrink]

65. That's very weird.

Strikes me that those you follow are the ones who might have a problem?

[zuul]

10. Exactly.

I’ve been blocking anyone who spouts right wing bullshit so my experience on Twitter is very pleasant.

And I block all ads just to spite Eloon.

Why should liberals cede Twitter to the assholes? There is still a lot of good content about topics that I enjoy. And many reputable journalists are still on Twitter.

If TFG starts tweeting again when his bullshit Truth Social site goes belly up, I will probably leave Twitter. But not before.

[Emrys]

25. All of this, though I reckon I could just as easily block TFG like all the other useless RW loons.

I suspect many of those of us who've found ways of using Twitter that mean it's still a useful experience - actually indispensible for some of the coverage I want, there's no viable alternative - are more than tired of the handwringing and guilt-tripping about it. My Twitter experience is very little different to what it's always been, except I'm much more savage with the block button nowadays - not because Twitter's gotten worse, but just because I can and not waste my time even reading certain accounts' constant drivel, and coincidentally it may add to downgrading the promotion of accounts I block

If anyone hates Twitter and doesn't find any worth in it, just don't use it. Then maybe DU will get more interesting and less alienating as there won't be OPs like this one endlessly rehashing the same tired old arguments over and over. It might even be as interesting as Twitter can be.

[zuul]

31. I wonder why DUers mostly single out Twitter for shaming.

Facebook is a bigger cess pool, in my opinion, but people here still use it.

TikTok is known to have Chinese spy ware but people her still post links.

YouTube isn’t any better.

So why does DU rag on Twitter so much? Yes, Eloon is an asshole but so is Zuckerberg.

[Emrys]

35. Beats me.

A while back, the OP put up a similar post insisting DUers should link directly to YouTube rather than Twitter!

Musk is undoubtedly an asshole of the first water, but Jack Dorsey wasn't a whole lot better when he was in charge, he just had better PR and wasn't quite as socially clueless.

[Lunabell]

57. I didn't "insist" anything.

Suggested.

[Emrys]

59. Oh, you were pretty insistent alright.

The OP and replies in case there's any doubt: https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217577024

YouTube's got some of the worst trolls anywhere on the internet, and content and seductive algorithms that can seriously deprave the depravable to the point of terrorism.

[Lunabell]

60. omg, hyperbole much?

I didn't "insist" anything.

[sheshe2]

38. +1

[KPN]

48. Second that +1.

[forgotmylogin]

16. Due to the exodus of smart people, that's become less useful.

I had to block MTG and Kevin McCarthy who were ALWAYS at the top of the timeline during the run up to the budget deal.

Whenever Biden or Karine tweet something innocuous like "Glad the budget deal is done" the first thirty promoted tweets are all people posting pictures of him tripping on the sandbag or telling him to resign and asking where the laptop dick pics are.

Plus, I'm sure a good portion of the legit users I followed have abandoned, so it's all just garbage now. I need to get off there because it makes my blood boil and it's so hard not to respond to these evil people despite it being purposeless.

I suspect the deplorables think it's their social media now and Elon rooked them out of $8 so their tweets are always featured.

[LostOne4Ever]

8. What is a good Mastadon server to join?

I have been boycotting twitter but hadn't decided on a replacement waiting for a clear alternative to form.

Seems like Mastadon is that alternative and with this I am ready to join.

I was looking at:

lgbtqia.space

Edit: found one tyvm

[forgotmylogin]

17. Mastodon has a learning curve, but is actually really good.

Since you start from 0 you fully curate your timeline and there's no promotion or ads or "we think you might be interested in this..."

[DBoon]

97. Theere is good stuff on Mastadon

NPR posts there, as does George Takei

[Johnny2X2X]

11. The promotion and dampening is clear

Some random RW post will get 10,000,000 views and 40K retweets. President Biden will Tweet and get 40,000 views and 1,000 retweet’s. It’s very obvious what Musk is doing.

[Joinfortmill]

12. Need an alternative. The technology is out there right?

[erronis]

13. BIGGER QUESTION: Why are US government organizations still using it.

All the excuses such as it helps us reach the widest audience (like FuckBase) don't really work.

The audience is not wide - it is selective to those nits that will bother using it.

Even first-year statistics students learn that you can't get a good sample by pre-selecting whose in that sample.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. "BIGGER QUESTION: Why are US government organizations still using it."

Because most have been on it for the past decade or so and over that time, developed policies and procedures on disseminating info using it.

They use it as a "rapid communications tool".

Muskrat only finalized the purchase and destruction of the thing 8 months ago, which is just a blip in time in the scheme of things based on how long it has been around.

So it will be a slog for them trying to find a similar suitable and widely used by the public platform (and no Mastadon ain't it because of the distributed nature of it although something like Blue Sky, created by you-know-who-former-Twitter-Guy) might be a possibility... in the future.

And note that I have NEVER created any account on it nor do I use the app but will view the public-facing web versions of tweets, and that is how those not utilizing the app and without an account, have used it.

[erronis]

42. But why use one outlet over all the rest? It's like the US choosing to use T-Mobile for all official

telecom communications.

I understand it became socially popular and gov't employees are necessarily social animals.

It just seems very misguided and perhaps arrogant to say "The US Government has mandated that all official communications be transmitted by Twitter." (Because that's what the former twat did.)

[BumRushDaShow]

52. Example

There are pop-up severe thunderstorms going over northern PA and moving south. The Mt. Holly NWS issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning earlier and just now, for one particularly nasty cell -

Link to tweet

NWS Mount Holly
@NWS_MountHolly
·
Follow
Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Wyomissing PA, Blandon PA and Shillington PA until 6:45 PM EDT
This graphic displays a severe thunderstorm warning plotted on a map. The warning is in effect until 6:45 PM EDT. The warning includes Wyomissing PA, Blandon PA and Shillington PA. This warning is for Central Berks County in eastern Pennsylvania. The threats associated with this warning are wind gusts up to 60 MPH and quarter sized hail. There are 187,119 people in the warning along with 41 schools and 4 hospitals.
6:05 PM · Jun 3, 2023
from Pennsylvania, USA

Link to tweet

NWS Mount Holly
@NWS_MountHolly
·
Follow
Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Lehighton PA, Jim Thorpe PA and Lansford PA until 5:30 PM EDT
This graphic displays a severe thunderstorm warning plotted on a map. The warning is in effect until 5:30 PM EDT. The warning includes Lehighton PA, Jim Thorpe PA and Lansford PA. This warning is for Southwestern Carbon County in northeastern Pennsylvania. The threats associated with this warning are wind gusts up to 60 MPH and quarter sized hail. There are 33,124 people in the warning along with 15 schools and 1 hospital.
4:54 PM · Jun 3, 2023
from Jim Thorpe, PA

In this tweeted message, they can quickly summarize the situation with the location, duration, and other characteristics for the product (as they call these designated watches, advisories, and warnings) that they issue and can include a graphic that shows the area affected.

I know a lot of people who complain about it focus solely on the "social" part that is littered with bullshit including dumb RW memes and other junk. But as a rapid communications tool - and even as a tool for quick direct access links to articles posted by the media, it has managed to attain a goal of transmitting info without the scary immediacy of something like the EAS (Emergency Alert System), although in certain situations, the NWS will also use that (and have always used their radio alerts - accessible only if you have a weather radio though).

I post a lot of LBN and if I just go to a news site, there are a billion links on the page with stories - some that are highlighted, but others that are "buried" by not being highlighted despite being an important story, and is just listed (thanks to corporate slight-of-hand). But some of those get tweeted out with a link that goes right to the article without having to spend who knows how long on a news site page searching for where the article is.

[erronis]

67. That's wonderful for everyone that gets these twits. I don't disagree with the content,

just the way it apparently needs to be transmitted - via a musk-controlled outlet.

[BumRushDaShow]

71. Again, remember he has only "owned" it for *8* months

where he didn't own it during the almost 20 years before.

Like I said, I have ZERO twitter accounts and don't use the app but I do look at the web versions and you will see various news and blog sites embed tweets (or add snapshots) in their news and (online) magazine articles.

So it allows for the opportunity for those who are actively following informational tweets, to become aggregators, and can pass that info along to the public in other ways like through broadcast media (whether on TV or radio) or even discussion forums like DU.

You also have the younger generations who use that or instagram or snapchat or tiktok to "communicate", so government entities manage to reach them that way. For example, the Philly Police Department tweeted this out with a request to ID this perp -

Link to tweet

Philadelphia Police Department
@PhillyPolice
·
Follow
Wanted: Suspect for Shooting Incident in the 22nd District [VIDEO] https://blotter.sites.phillypolice.com/2023/06/wanted-suspect-for-shooting-incident-in-the-22nd-district-video-8/
Image
6:44 AM · Jun 1, 2023

If some Gen Z or millennial recognizes that guy (particularly due to the unique jacket and hoodie) then that can lead to one shooter off the streets.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

66. Reaching widest audience. Bingo. Until any other

site reaches meaningful critical mass... Big entities will stick with Twitter.

Don't forget you've got thousands of businesses with Twitter addresses on websites, marketing materials. Alternative? None yet.

[randr]

14. Twits have a nest of their own

Now we can sit back an watch them shit themselves senseless.

[CaptainTruth]

18. "Ego is probably the main answer to that question." LOL wrong. Try "a desire for information."

Twitter is the best source of first-person information & analysis I've found. For example, within minutes of a brief being filed in any of the legal cases I follow there is at least one, & often more, legal expert I trust (& follow on my Legal List) going through it line-by-line & analyzing & explaining what it means to the case, well before it's reported on by the MSM (& usually it's not reported on), along with a link to the actual court filing so I can read it myself, without MSM mistakes & misinterpretation (which are frequent) & spin.

Also, just a couple days ago on Twitter I was reading some great economic analysis of recent data showing how manufacturing investment in the US (spending on manufacturing facilities & equipment) has skyrocketed over the past several months. It's a story Democrats should be crowing about because it shows that the bills passed by the Dem-controlled Congress are working & producing real tangible results, very impressive results! But is the MSM reporting it? Are Democrats crafting & delivering effective messaging to highlight this wonderful accomplishment that's benefitting all Americans? I'll just say that if it weren't for Twitter, & the Lists I've compiled to follow the experts I trust, I never would have know about it.

All of that said, yes, if you go to the "For You" feed on Twitter it's far more filled with anti-American radical right filth than it used to be. But hey, I get a bit of satisfaction from being one of thousands of people who tell the GOP or Boburp or Empty Greene that they're America-hating traitors.

[Ferrets are Cool]

45. Except that there are other ways to gather that information.

I have never done twitter and consider myself to be very up to date on information.

[jayschool2013]

19. Journalist and author Jeff Pearlman

Jeff Pearlman asked that same question, of himself and other journalists/authors (not that anyone on DU trusts even real journalists), and came up with this meandering post.

Excerpted:

There will be moments of regret. I am certain there will be moments of regret.

I am tired of the wasted minutes-turned-to-hours. I am tired of the anger. I am tired of that itchy sickness of feeling compelled to respond to someone’s bullshit. Of having to respond to someone’s bullshit. I’m tired of leaving Twitter, then returning to Twitter. I am tired of swearing it off, then—motherfucking fuck fuckity fuck—coming right back. I am tired of seeking out “Trump” and “MAGA” the way a warped individual might enter a field and dance barefoot over the most poison of sumacs. I am tired of Elon Musk and Ben Shapiro and critics of my books whose Twtter IDs end with some unruly string of numbers and letters. I am tired of aspiring celebrities using Twitter to be loud! LOuder! LOUDEST! I am tired of that stuck-in-a-smoking-section feeling. The smell. The taste. The lethargy.

I am also scared. As of today, I have 75,400 Twitter followers, cultivated over (egad) 15 years on the platform. My job isn’t just to write books, but to sell books. And even if only a small percentage of those 75,400 buy my product, well, doesn’t that make it a worthwhile endeavor? Shouldn’t I stay on Twitter? Shouldn’t I stick it out? Fuck, what will my book publicist say if I leave? I mean, my Instagram following is pretty sad. Facebook, too. Will HarperCollins still want me around if I ditch the oomph of Twitter supporters?

Will I wind up obsolete?

[GenThePerservering]

32. Jeff is tired. nt

[irisblue]

22. I stay for Black Twitter, LGBTQ &PetTwitter, I get news about events in Africa Asia,S. Am

Last edited Sat Jun 3, 2023, 05:38 PM - Edit history (1)

That info is not available in other social media sources.

I have gone to weddings, had movie nights thru Twitter rooms, made in real life friends on twitter.

I find the emergency info, esp severe weather the best site.


I do have other social media platforms that I am on, but Twitter is still the best one for my needs at this minute.

[mopinko]

40. i stay for irish twitter and uk news.

but since the mayoral election in chi, i’ve met a lot of folks from here.

[Rebl2]

23. Good question

[Laura PourMeADrink]

24. Totally disagree. Instant news about anything you want

Information on anything you want.

Opportunity to only see posts by people you like and admire. People complaining don't seem to know that??

[ancianita]

26. Yes. Liberals not only get instant news, they are good counter intel -- spies in enemy territory.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

33. Ha. Cept I am not in enemy territory there.

[ancianita]

37. Cool. Obviously. Many liberals just try to get info. Counter intel works as mostly info gathering,

anyway, which one can't do if one doesn't enter right wing social media circles. I just used "spies in enemy territory" hyperbolically.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

61. Sorry, slow witted today:). My niece got a pearl in her oyster

So that's my excuse lol. Evidently it's a rarity.

[ancianita]

62. Oh heck no, "slow witted" is the last thing you are!

It's always fair to point out that liberals aren't a monolith anywhere they go. Liberals of Florida aren't leaving, either. Whever they are, liberals are what make the political arena Diverse, Equitable and Inclusive. Ya know, that woke stuff.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

81. Going from red state hell in TX back to CT where

I'm from. After 20 years! So excited. But a liberal state comes with consequences like rules upon rules? So you don't infringe?

Bottom line, paid my dues as a liberal in a red hell hole! . Freedom!

[ancianita]

82. Congratulations.

In a kind of exile here in FL, I still remember my blue state of Illinois being all about giving more freedom and civilized benefits to Illinoisans, not infringing. Hope you find CT the same.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

84. Florida is such an enigma. Very good pockets. Very bad pockets

Eh?

All depends on what you're driven by

Na, life's too short! Gotta go with being around normal people . Absolutely zero progress on converting anyone in red state
You?

[ancianita]

85. I hear you.

I can't describe it, really, since I see Dems working at local levels pretty much everywhere, but maybe because I see what I want to see. I get the feeling that FL repubs are watching how the media and country see their governor.

Yep, I agree with being around normal people, and not bothering to convert any red voters. Heaven knows what it will be like once permitless conceal & carry goes into effect on July 1.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

86. If any state needs to adopt the Howard Dean advice

about getting Dems into local/state power - especially SOS, it is Florida. No way in hell did DeSantis win in Miami-Dade County. Don't care how many recounts/reviews they have. (Jeez sound like TFG)

Swimming upstream. But admire you for the fight! Keep going!

[ancianita]

87. Seriously. But I've come to think that the national party writes FL candidate help off on the

pretext of "electability." We'll see what happens with youth registration and GOTV. But I also don't count on an honest voter count any more than I saw honest covid numbers.

Not sure about swimming upstream; it feels more like staying afloat.

[sheshe2]

39. +1

[erronis]

44. But the messaging is controlled by a magalomaniac.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

63. He doesn't tell me what to say. And haven't heard

New York Times or WaPo say that their words were twisted. Or any entity or person for that matter.

Maybe we're all just lucky I know Musk is a stooge otherwise. I just kinda fail to see how this affects it's authors.

I laugh about people who quit over $8 mo for verification flag. Strikes me as a very small price for a business or celebrity to pay for otherwise free information dissemination and PR.

[erronis]

68. But you don't know what he has silently censored from you either.

He can block certain people or deprioritize their messages. You would not know.

He has also started charging a huge amount for access to feeds that were available freely before. Desperate for cash, or just trying to stifle communications?

[Laura PourMeADrink]

69. Guess he/they could block posts of people/entities I follow

You're right, I wouldn't know. Happy with what I can see though. Good it's not only source of info, just one.

What do you mean "access to feeds"??? Over my pay grade. I have a feed but you must be talking about some other big time deal?

[33taw]

27. I left the day Musk took over.

I never used it to post anything. Just view.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

34. Go back:). Nothing's changed. Lots of great liberals

Still there

[Hekate]

36. Because before it was sold, it made itself indispensable to news orgs & others

That’s why.

It will take awhile for a viable replacement to manifest itself. Right now, there’s a lot of competition — but Twitter was the first and only for over 20 years.

[mopinko]

43. i think this is a gross exaggeration. it's what u make it.

there are still important voices on there, and i’m there til they leave.
and there is a pretty stout resistance. it’s ppl like me who go on blocking sprees against advertisers that are chasing their dollars away.

i think esp on du, we’re used to not dealing w these ppl. but it’s not hard to filter them out, and lift up the important voices there.

i’ve made connections from my own city to ireland and the uk. a lot of the accounts i follow are history buffs. i learn something old every day.

i rly wish folks here would stop shaming those of us who dont want to abandon what is still an important public square.

[ancianita]

49. +1

[Lunabell]

54. It's an article.

I'm not shaming anyone. Geeze!

[madville]

46. Leaving means they won

Disappointed NPR walked away, they have almost 9 million followers on there. They always put out responsible well informed content, it just makes Twitter worse without their voice to counter others.

[madville]

47. Twitter is much more than US politics

Sports following is huge on there. People also forget it’s a global platform, it’s used extensively around the world, US politics are just a small fraction of its traffic.

[brooklynite]

50. Perhaps ask @POTUS, @TeamJeffries, @Kamalaharris @SenSchumer?

As long as responsible voices are on Twitter, I will be as well.

[Lemon Lyman]

53. Yeah

& Dorsey (former Twitter guy) has really had some douchey comments lately too, so blue sky or whatever it is doesn't look so great either.

[Fla Dem]

55. Mainly I don't know where to go.....

I've joined Tribel, not Mastodon. Can't figure that one out. But I'm still on Twitter because most of the people I follow are still on Twitter and not on other platforms.

I don't want to have to go to 3 or 4 platforms to follow people I could easily follow just on Twitter.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

72. Don't you think it will take a couple years for another

site to overtake Twitter? Like I joined Mastedon too, and have never even looked at it

My prediction is that Twitter will be around and used by most big entities for a long time it's just one of those things in life - people/businesses bought into it first. No one out there now will take over unless some revolutionary idea comes to pass. Can't even think of what that could be, you?

[Emrys]

73. Twitter has an estimated 230,000,000 daily active users.

Around 65,000,000 of them are in the US. Here's the top 10 countries by one reckoning:



https://www.oberlo.com/statistics/number-of-twitter-users-by-country

Here's another take that gives somewhat different totals, but the general ballpark's the same: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/twitter-statistics/

This is vastly greater than Mastodon's userbase, and it's unclear whether Mastodon's numbers are growing or not now, or possibly have peaked.

There are bigger platforms out there - for example, TikTok has an estimated 1,600,000,000 users, Facebook has 2,850,000,000 - but they do different things, generally appeal to different types of users, so are more an adjunct to Twitter than any possible replacement for it and also have their serious downsides.

It took Twitter 16 years or so and a number of ups and downs to develop that userbase. Sheer numbers aren't the be-all and end-all of social media - quality and signal to noise ratio count too, obviously - but critical mass is important, and is Twitter's main advantage, not least because of media outlets' presences on it along with arms of government etc.

I don't see any way Mastodon will ever become a serious rival, and all the other new platforms springing up in the wake of Musk's takeover will have a very long hill to climb before they're even a few leagues below Twitter.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

74. Wow.. excellent. Excellent information. Thank you.

Puts it all in perspective.

Agree about rivals, if you haven't taken over yet, you won't.

I can not even fathom what it would be - to offer something entirely different than Twitter & FB? Something so unique and different that it could surpass those #s. Can you?

[Emrys]

78. I'd rather not think about it too hard, TBH!

But the sheer scale of some of these operations is something folks who apparently want people to just bail out of Twitter, altogether or in favour of another platform, seem to have trouble getting their heads around. There's a lot of human life there, warts and beauty spots and all.

All these platforms fulfil some sorts of needs, and some overlap. A lot of folks on Facebook use it to keep in touch with family and friends - I rejected joining it years ago because Zuckerman gives me the creeps and I don't like how it treats user data and tries to leech into online activities even when you aren't actually on the site, and I prefer to preserve a degree of anonymity online for my own reasons. I know that over the years I've been missing out on contact with friends and acquaintances because of this, but every year or so another revelation will come out about Facebook that makes me feel I made the right decision.

I see some people on Twitter using it similarly, but it seems less intimate somehow. Political manipulation of all these platforms hits the headlines, in the MSM and on DU, but I think Facebook is more insidious because it's so entwined with people's everyday lives and real-life relationships, so maybe sometimes their guard is down when it shouldn't be, and group dynamics and peer pressure also come into play. Facebook also seems more like an online enclave because it makes it as hard as possible for someone without an account to access it. One of Twitter's strengths is how easy it is to share tweets on other platforms.

Musk and others have this vision of an all-encompassing app that will basically give people the illusion of running their own lives. That sounds like a recipe for dystopia to me. I prefer to mix and match and find my own solutions to my needs. I use eBay a lot, and PayPal, despite my misgivings about the people behind them. I use Twitter on my own terms as much as I can, and get a weird kick out of trying to fox whatever moves Musk makes to control my experience there. DU is the only social media site I actually subscribe to financially.

I don't know what the future holds online. I started out just using email because the internet and our computers weren't able to cope with much more at the time. I graduated to forums, moderated a couple, then turned to blogs when I found forums too constricting, visited loads, wrote for one for a few years, then I got more involved in DU again, then my interest in Twitter grew along with my ability to use it. Where I am now, I can't see an online need of mine at the moment that's unfulfilled. In fact, I should be spending less time online, not more!

[Laura PourMeADrink]

80. Totally agree about FB, perhaps, no perhaps, there

must be a better side? Or is it, like you say, a human need to keep up with family & friends? Got to be more given stats you posted! No ???

I gave up on FB years ago when people I knew would tell everyone that they were having lunch at X restaurant. Like who cares? Of course, overriding that was the fact that Russians infected millions? Of FB users with propaganda for TFG.

Saw first hand how Cruz used it. Beto was getting close. Cruz - limited almost nil campaigning. Them boom - Cruz campaign posted a dark and ominous pic of Beto getting arrested jumping over an effin fence in college? After college? Knowing it would spread exponentially, like wildfire, on FB. It did. Rest is history.

[Lucinda]

56. they are still managing content and removing links to lies as long

As I provide links

[WarGamer]

58. Twitter is what YOU make it.

The algorithm sees to it.

Pleasure yourself looking at political content, rage posting at RW'ers and Trump memes...

You're gonna be fed MORE RW political content.

That's what the algorithm does.

But guess what?

90% of Twitter has nothing to do with politics.

My personal Twitter account is full of anthropologists, archaeologists and historians... every day. And that's because I don't use Twitter as a High School Gymnasium food fight.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

64. Here here! Or is it Hear hear!

[Elessar Zappa]

70. Because I like it.

I don’t see any rw content at all. My feed consists of history, science, pro-wrestling (don’t judge, it’s a guilty pleasure) etc.

[Laura PourMeADrink]

76. Me too! And rw magats can commiserate to their

heart's content.

[Iggo]

77. It's not complete until they get all the liberals to leave.

Wink.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

79. If I don't use

Twitter no-one should.

[ancianita]

88. All I know is I'm still glad to see that Jeff Tiedrich still tweets

I'm glad to all the rest of the liberals' tweets posted on DU. What I gather is that the platform owner is not the platform.

[Earth-shine]

89. When all the liberals are gone, Twitter will collapse under the weight of its right wing.

It won't be fun for them to be there anymore without lefties to annoy.

[Maru Kitteh]

90. I left it. No regrets. nt

[betsuni]

92. Oh, how dramatic: "rightwing takeover is complete."

[sellitman]

93. I left when he welcomed back the Nazis

I don't read links sent here.

I've been on Mastodon , loving it and have not looked back.

[BlackSkimmer]

94. I remember so many here swearing they'd be quitting if Musk took over.

They were quite vehement about it.

That seems to have fizzled out, since I see those same folks posting tweets all the time.

[ancianita]

95. Yeah, but looking at Pew data, that didn't happen.

Because the platform owner is not the platform. And that's the way it should be.

[BlackSkimmer]

98. It didn't happen that Musk owns twitter?

I'm missing something.

My point was that so many here was they would quit if he bought it. He did buy it.

Not one of those OPs who said they'd quit have done so.

Totally their choice of course, I just love the boycott threads that fizzle into nothingness. Because: whatever excuse works.

[ancianita]

100. Sure. But the numbers Pew shows don't show they have left en masse.

Yeah, he bought it. DU'ers notwithstanding, look at all those who stayed.

I'm not into boycotting a platform with any critical mass of liberals on it. Again, Pew 2023.

?w=310

[BlackSkimmer]

101. Exactly, they didn't leave.

And if our democracy depends on twitter, we're in real trouble.

[forthemiddle]

96. To me Twitter is a tool that I use for my interests

It’s one site that I can go to and catch up on the things that interest me. I control it.
I follow my favorite sports teams, the Viking Ocean cruise I have planned this fall, my favorite celebrities, tv shows, and even politicians.
I get my local TV a news station that keeps me up with weather, or breaking local news, but what I don’t get is subjects I disagree with. Why? Because I unfollowed those.
Maybe I use it wrong, but when people say the right wing is taking it over, I don’t see it, and if I do, I control if I want to see it against in the future. It’s a tool to keep me up to date on my interests.