I Rejoined Twitter

My off again/on again relationship with social media continues. In April 2022, I deleted my ten-year-old Twitter account before Elon Musk bought the company. Now in June 2023, in an unexpected turn of events, I’ve created a new Twitter account. So what is happening?

Just days after creating my first ever Mastodon account, I went back to Twitter. And a few days later, I revived my Instagram account. So I think this is a general, “Hey, let’s check the latest state of social media” kind of move. Yet clearly I don’t have enough time to be active on all of them. And with traditional blogging being my main focus, I doubt I’ll have much time for even just one social site.

So why did I return to Twitter, the site that I deleted in order to avoid the addiction of checking/scrolling the feed? Why would I invest time on Elon Musk’s platform? How could I trust a site that seems to be imploding while hoards of people flee? What about content moderation and censorship concerns?

Those are all good questions.

The straightforward answer is simple. Despite the legitimate issues and sizable exodus from Twitter, there are still many brands, companies, organizations, public figures, and topics on Twitter that I want to follow and engage. And though many reports suggest Twitter’s technical and administrative supports are breaking, I have found firsthand that, so far, the site and its features are working nominally.

On top of that, I was just curious. How is the new Elon Twitter different from the old one? Could it be better in any way at all? Is it truly worse? I’ve found some good new things:

• 4,000 character limit (a long-form post, via Twitter Blue)
• Ability to control who replies to your Tweet
• Twitter Circle (ability to limit your Tweet to a select group)
• “Following” timeline - you see Tweets from only those you follow

There’s a bigger picture here worth noting. Many people use Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and others despite all social media being technically broken or morally bankrupt. And they all do it for the same basic reason: the other people there. That’s where the majority of people are, either friends and family (Facebook), politicians and journalists (Twitter), or celebrities and influencers (Instagram).

It’s the network effect.

Want to follow certain people or topics? They’re all on one of thew few giant social platforms. Want to like, comment, or interact easily with others? Use one of those big social sites. Simple as that. The alternative is to restrict yourself to the open and indie web, using blogs and RSS and the like — don’t get me wrong, this option is my favorite. Also, maybe the Fediverse will be the future middle ground between those, a nice mix of the two. Then again, maybe not.

It’s nice to have options; use what you want.

For better or worse, social media continues to be one I sometimes choose (and sometimes reject). It remains a driving force in our culture, one that’s hard to ignore. If social media platforms are tools, then it’s prudent to take advantage of them, making the most of perhaps less-than-ideal utilities. That’s what I’m doing — for now and the foreseeable future. Of course, I’ll do this carefully and in moderation.