Thanks, Andrew. I'm under no illusion that one reporter taking a break from Twitter will accomplish anything more than that reporter losing some of his influence. But I don't turn on my MacBook every day wondering what new change Tim Cook has wrought, or have to debate the merits of Bob Iger with friends every time we watch ESPN or Disney+. It's just gotten tiresome and even a bit risky to be a reporter using the service, I think.
Thank you for doing this. I love what Twitter was and to a lesser extent still is; I still depend on it for quality interaction with people who are still there. But if reporters with major followings start pulling out, and then, say, WaPo or NYT to follow NPR, Twitter may truly start circling the drain -- and that would be a good thing. I want to see either Musk forced out or Twitter destroyed and a decent alternative develop.
Sometimes I think that watching Twitter degenerate may prove a kind of preview for watching U.S. democracy and society degenerate under the next Republican president -- unless Republicans are shut out long enough to force a party reformation.
An example of how poor Twitter has become for driving traffic and showing you people you follow: I didn’t see your tweet about quitting Twitter and only discovered it through this newsletter.
You'll be missed on Twitter, but I completely understand the decision and hope it treats you well. In the meantime, glad to be able to follow you here and at WaPo.
As my own small engagement evaporated, I wanted to figure out who, among my follower and followed accounts, was still active on Twitter. So I subscribed to Circleboom.com for a month. It helped me pare down both lists (follows and followers) drastically, so at least I know who is really out there, even if the algorithm suppresses unpaid communications.
As for Twitter's audience going forward, it seems to be mostly the Parler and Gab crowd. In other words, no one worth reaching on a daily basis. Given the new algorithms, it would be silly for me to expect my own feed to reach anyone. But I hope to still use Twitter to directly reach people in my field directly (by visiting their known feed) or to search for topics and connect with other people's tweets.
I quit six months ago after Musk’s vile tweet about the assault of Paul Pelosi. Twitter was fun and useful for about 15 years. I’ve missed the dopamine hits, the instant news bulletins, and the occasional 15 minutes of viral infamy when somebody with lots of followers RT’d me. But the bad came to outweigh the good. The more I read about what it’s become, the less I miss it.
The benefit of this is that I wanted to say congrats on the new baby, looked for your twitter account, found it was gone, googled to find out why and found your substack!
Thanks, Andrew. I'm under no illusion that one reporter taking a break from Twitter will accomplish anything more than that reporter losing some of his influence. But I don't turn on my MacBook every day wondering what new change Tim Cook has wrought, or have to debate the merits of Bob Iger with friends every time we watch ESPN or Disney+. It's just gotten tiresome and even a bit risky to be a reporter using the service, I think.
And no one _has_ to be on Twitter! This John Herrmann column on Friday was great. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/elon-musk-makes-twitter-users-an-offer-they-shouldnt-refuse.html
Thank you for doing this. I love what Twitter was and to a lesser extent still is; I still depend on it for quality interaction with people who are still there. But if reporters with major followings start pulling out, and then, say, WaPo or NYT to follow NPR, Twitter may truly start circling the drain -- and that would be a good thing. I want to see either Musk forced out or Twitter destroyed and a decent alternative develop.
Sometimes I think that watching Twitter degenerate may prove a kind of preview for watching U.S. democracy and society degenerate under the next Republican president -- unless Republicans are shut out long enough to force a party reformation.
An example of how poor Twitter has become for driving traffic and showing you people you follow: I didn’t see your tweet about quitting Twitter and only discovered it through this newsletter.
I’ve had the same experience of engagement trending toward zero. What a waste of a good thing.
You'll be missed on Twitter, but I completely understand the decision and hope it treats you well. In the meantime, glad to be able to follow you here and at WaPo.
As my own small engagement evaporated, I wanted to figure out who, among my follower and followed accounts, was still active on Twitter. So I subscribed to Circleboom.com for a month. It helped me pare down both lists (follows and followers) drastically, so at least I know who is really out there, even if the algorithm suppresses unpaid communications.
As for Twitter's audience going forward, it seems to be mostly the Parler and Gab crowd. In other words, no one worth reaching on a daily basis. Given the new algorithms, it would be silly for me to expect my own feed to reach anyone. But I hope to still use Twitter to directly reach people in my field directly (by visiting their known feed) or to search for topics and connect with other people's tweets.
I quit six months ago after Musk’s vile tweet about the assault of Paul Pelosi. Twitter was fun and useful for about 15 years. I’ve missed the dopamine hits, the instant news bulletins, and the occasional 15 minutes of viral infamy when somebody with lots of followers RT’d me. But the bad came to outweigh the good. The more I read about what it’s become, the less I miss it.
The benefit of this is that I wanted to say congrats on the new baby, looked for your twitter account, found it was gone, googled to find out why and found your substack!
Good for you! The drain of anything good there will continue... Please consider posting on Mastodon