4 ms·

Part of me hopes this is the end of the social media age. I've been on twitter since the very beginning and lately it feels like it's a toxic cesspool on all si

Part of me hopes this is the end of the social media age. I've been on twitter since the very beginning and lately it feels like it's a toxic cesspool on all sides. I say this as a twitter addict and prolific poster over more than a decade.

School-Cotton 5y ago
What stops you from deleting your twitter, regardless of whether Musk buys it?
rvz 5y ago
Hardly. What happened to #deletefacebook in 2018, #deleteinstagram? Nothing happened. Billions are still using it regardless of that. We also still have billions addicted to the new digital crack / cocaine called TikTok. So this is far from 'the end' of social media. In fact, it is the start of the increasing echo chambers and the ills of social media being used for disinformation campaigns.
- Victerius 5y ago
  I agree. Elon Musk taking control of Twitter won't spell the end of social media. Social media fills the intrinsic human need to be connected to others and recognized by others for a lot of people. Network effects make it very hard for a competitor to dislodge the incumbents, but as TikTok showed, it's not impossible. Social media is here to stay indefinitely.
  - robbedpeter 5y ago
    It mimics the satisfaction of that intrinsic social need. It's the high fructose corn syrup of socializing, only more toxic.
jdrc 5y ago
It's not , but now social media is mainstream media and can't pretend to be cool anymore
sidcool 5y ago
Unlikely. Twitter, despite of its influence, is a minor part of the social media business. Instagram and TikTok are the biggest.
goodoldneon 5y ago
It depends who you follow. I only follow people I think are funny so now my Twitter feed is almost entirely toxicity-free. If you follow political accounts then you're gonna get hit with the toxic firehose
- hirundo 5y ago
  If I could go on Twitter and only see stuff from people I follow I'd feel the same as you about it. But they make it almost impossible not to be barraged with other stuff too, and not just ads, but hate and insanity that I tried hard not to follow. Those are the things that drove me away. Now I exfiltrate the good stuff with Nitter RSS feeds, and that way I get the experience you say you like about Twitter.
  - jvzr 5y ago
    > If I could go on Twitter and only see stuff from people I follow I'd feel the same as you about it. But they make it almost impossible not to be barraged with other stuff too, and not just ads, but hate and insanity that I tried hard not to follow. Those are the things that drove me away. The only sane way to use Twitter is through a 3rd-party client: no ads, none of that Notifications spam and other recommendations
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
afavour 5y ago
I don’t see how it ever would be. But that said, I remember the era of the Arab Spring where everyone said social media would liberate us all… of course it never turned out to by true but I feel as though Twitter is still pretending that it will. Being bought by Musk ought to bring about an end to any such perception. It’s going to be a rich man’s plaything (nothing new there, billionaires used to buy newspapers instead!) and who knows if it’ll be a success or not, but it has no higher calling and we’re probably all better off for recognising it.
- christkv 5y ago
  Is this anything different from Facebook or Google?
  - afavour 5y ago
    I’d argue FB and Google stopped pretending to be about free speech and such a long time ago with Twitter being the one left that claimed to be a beacon of freedom (while not really being one).
    - throwaway82652 5y ago
      Any website claiming to be a "beacon of free speech" is lying. The very idea of it is nonsensical from the outset, it's like a cartoon idea of what a website is supposed to be. One person's "free speech" is just another person's toxic abuse that makes the site unusable. That much is blatantly obvious from spending even just a small amount of time on Twitter.
dkjaudyeqooe 5y ago
It surely is, the lunatic has purchased the asylum.
ridiculous_leke 5y ago
> I've been on twitter since the very beginning and lately it feels like it's a toxic cesspool on all sides. > I say this as a twitter addict and prolific poster over more than a decade. It's possible Twitter(and Social media in general) is as not as toxic you feel. I spend more time on LinkedIn than other sites and I feel it's more toxic than others. SM sites do feel less toxic if you tune up your feed, mute people and spend a little less time on them.
- mmastrac 5y ago
  I don't consider Linkedin a social network at all any more. It's just a spam/announcement/congratulations feed for me. Twitter underwent a change over the last ~4 years where it went from having its own, weird "extremely online" culture to being a battleground. You really can't avoid the mess unless you put in an extreme amount of effort.
rosndo 5y ago
Twitter is what you make it. If you choose to surround yourself in the toxic cesspool parts, perhaps that says more about you than Twitter? 99% of the stuff I see is interesting technical content
- ben_w 5y ago
  Cesspools can find you (or the people you follow) even if you don’t want them to.
marban 5y ago
I was one of the first users, still have a 3 digit API ID, and made some good money from Twitter over the years. The often cited cesspool is highly exaggerated among certain peer groups. Twitter can be fun and happy and hasn't really changed a lot, provided that you follow the right people — Which can be hard for new users given the non-explorative/gradual onboarding. Back in the days, we built proprietary blocking into the app — all those things, filtering, etc. are now available natively. Twitter only gets frustrating if you let it.
mattgreenrocks 5y ago
This is my hope as well. The belief that everyone should be on the same social network is misguided, naive, and renders us too prone to manipulation and misinformation. I look forward to social networks splintering and their cultural influence beginning to wane. Hoping they end up as footnote in history textbooks of a weird time when people worried about checkmarks and follower counts, and it all amounted to nothing.
gbersac 5y ago
I never had anything toxic on my twitter feed and I spend a lot of time on it. The quality of your feed depend on who you follow.
- nomdep 5y ago
  If you don’t see the toxic, you probably are the toxic
Symmetry 5y ago
Twitter is a big place. I follow a lot of reporters, policy analysts, space entrepreneur, etc and don't get much toxicity. There are some people whose long form writing I really enjoy but who are just too negative on Twitter for me to follow them there, I just hope that other people will retweet their good stuff.
throw0101a 5y ago
> I've been on twitter since the very beginning and lately it feels like it's a toxic cesspool on all sides. Now you know how the old school Useneters feel. Welcome to Eternal September.
- mmastrac 5y ago
  Also a former usenetter. And former FidoNETter.
JohnWhigham 5y ago
Lol what? We're social animals. You realize that forums were also social media? Just because the term didn't exist 20 years ago doesn't mean it wasn't a thing.

School-Cotton 5y ago

What stops you from deleting your twitter, regardless of whether Musk buys it?

rvz 5y ago

Hardly. What happened to #deletefacebook in 2018, #deleteinstagram? Nothing happened. Billions are still using it regardless of that. We also still have billions addicted to the new digital crack / cocaine called TikTok. So this is far from 'the end' of social media. In fact, it is the start of the increasing echo chambers and the ills of social media being used for disinformation campaigns.

Victerius 5y ago
I agree. Elon Musk taking control of Twitter won't spell the end of social media. Social media fills the intrinsic human need to be connected to others and recognized by others for a lot of people. Network effects make it very hard for a competitor to dislodge the incumbents, but as TikTok showed, it's not impossible. Social media is here to stay indefinitely.
- robbedpeter 5y ago
  It mimics the satisfaction of that intrinsic social need. It's the high fructose corn syrup of socializing, only more toxic.

jdrc 5y ago

It's not , but now social media is mainstream media and can't pretend to be cool anymore

sidcool 5y ago

Unlikely. Twitter, despite of its influence, is a minor part of the social media business. Instagram and TikTok are the biggest.

goodoldneon 5y ago

It depends who you follow. I only follow people I think are funny so now my Twitter feed is almost entirely toxicity-free. If you follow political accounts then you're gonna get hit with the toxic firehose

hirundo 5y ago
If I could go on Twitter and only see stuff from people I follow I'd feel the same as you about it. But they make it almost impossible not to be barraged with other stuff too, and not just ads, but hate and insanity that I tried hard not to follow. Those are the things that drove me away. Now I exfiltrate the good stuff with Nitter RSS feeds, and that way I get the experience you say you like about Twitter.
- jvzr 5y ago
  > If I could go on Twitter and only see stuff from people I follow I'd feel the same as you about it. But they make it almost impossible not to be barraged with other stuff too, and not just ads, but hate and insanity that I tried hard not to follow. Those are the things that drove me away. The only sane way to use Twitter is through a 3rd-party client: no ads, none of that Notifications spam and other recommendations
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

afavour 5y ago

I don’t see how it ever would be. But that said, I remember the era of the Arab Spring where everyone said social media would liberate us all… of course it never turned out to by true but I feel as though Twitter is still pretending that it will. Being bought by Musk ought to bring about an end to any such perception. It’s going to be a rich man’s plaything (nothing new there, billionaires used to buy newspapers instead!) and who knows if it’ll be a success or not, but it has no higher calling and we’re probably all better off for recognising it.

christkv 5y ago
Is this anything different from Facebook or Google?
- afavour 5y ago
  I’d argue FB and Google stopped pretending to be about free speech and such a long time ago with Twitter being the one left that claimed to be a beacon of freedom (while not really being one).
  - throwaway82652 5y ago
    Any website claiming to be a "beacon of free speech" is lying. The very idea of it is nonsensical from the outset, it's like a cartoon idea of what a website is supposed to be. One person's "free speech" is just another person's toxic abuse that makes the site unusable. That much is blatantly obvious from spending even just a small amount of time on Twitter.

dkjaudyeqooe 5y ago

It surely is, the lunatic has purchased the asylum.

ridiculous_leke 5y ago

> I've been on twitter since the very beginning and lately it feels like it's a toxic cesspool on all sides. > I say this as a twitter addict and prolific poster over more than a decade. It's possible Twitter(and Social media in general) is as not as toxic you feel. I spend more time on LinkedIn than other sites and I feel it's more toxic than others. SM sites do feel less toxic if you tune up your feed, mute people and spend a little less time on them.

mmastrac 5y ago
I don't consider Linkedin a social network at all any more. It's just a spam/announcement/congratulations feed for me. Twitter underwent a change over the last ~4 years where it went from having its own, weird "extremely online" culture to being a battleground. You really can't avoid the mess unless you put in an extreme amount of effort.

rosndo 5y ago

Twitter is what you make it. If you choose to surround yourself in the toxic cesspool parts, perhaps that says more about you than Twitter? 99% of the stuff I see is interesting technical content

ben_w 5y ago
Cesspools can find you (or the people you follow) even if you don’t want them to.

marban 5y ago

I was one of the first users, still have a 3 digit API ID, and made some good money from Twitter over the years. The often cited cesspool is highly exaggerated among certain peer groups. Twitter can be fun and happy and hasn't really changed a lot, provided that you follow the right people — Which can be hard for new users given the non-explorative/gradual onboarding. Back in the days, we built proprietary blocking into the app — all those things, filtering, etc. are now available natively. Twitter only gets frustrating if you let it.

mattgreenrocks 5y ago

This is my hope as well. The belief that everyone should be on the same social network is misguided, naive, and renders us too prone to manipulation and misinformation. I look forward to social networks splintering and their cultural influence beginning to wane. Hoping they end up as footnote in history textbooks of a weird time when people worried about checkmarks and follower counts, and it all amounted to nothing.

gbersac 5y ago

I never had anything toxic on my twitter feed and I spend a lot of time on it. The quality of your feed depend on who you follow.

nomdep 5y ago
If you don’t see the toxic, you probably are the toxic

Symmetry 5y ago

Twitter is a big place. I follow a lot of reporters, policy analysts, space entrepreneur, etc and don't get much toxicity. There are some people whose long form writing I really enjoy but who are just too negative on Twitter for me to follow them there, I just hope that other people will retweet their good stuff.

throw0101a 5y ago

> I've been on twitter since the very beginning and lately it feels like it's a toxic cesspool on all sides. Now you know how the old school Useneters feel. Welcome to Eternal September.

mmastrac 5y ago
Also a former usenetter. And former FidoNETter.

JohnWhigham 5y ago

Lol what? We're social animals. You realize that forums were also social media? Just because the term didn't exist 20 years ago doesn't mean it wasn't a thing.