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> So why is the general public not proportionally represented on Twitter? Like I said: Musk. Whether you appreciate it or hate it, his personality is polarizing

> So why is the general public not proportionally represented on Twitter? Like I said: Musk. Whether you appreciate it or hate it, his personality is polarizing and a lot of people just won't engage with it. They left Twitter and it surged right. As best I can tell only a tiny fraction of people actually left twitter without coming back a few months later. Do you have any numbers on what proportion of leftists left twitter and where they went?

catapart 3y ago
Oh, no, nothing empirical! Musk, the "free speech absolutist" is actually very closed-mouth about actual numbers. Loves to tout metrics that no one can validate, but will not, under any circumstance that I've seen, let anyone do any real research on the metrics. It's all just hearsay based on wire monitoring and patchwork investigations. The best estimate I've heard is that around 20-30k people really left, based on reported numbers over half a million. That seems about right, to me. 500k said they were going to leave, only 20k actually did. Of course, why that pushed the site more rightward is likewise speculation. If those numbers are accurate, I'd guess that the people who did leave were the most politically or socially aggrieved, so they would be the exact people to have outsized impact on Community Notes. And given the actual impacts that I've observed, anecdotally, that tracks pretty well with how much further right Twitter got. Not "much" but noticeable to anyone not making excuses for it.
- Fnoord 3y ago
  I'm one of the 20k, but I never said I would leave. I just removed my account, simple as that. And I'm probably not the only one who left without fanfare. Why would I announce to leave?
Phaedor 3y ago
A research team led by Charlotte Chang, assistant professor of biology and environmental analysis at Pomona College, found that in the six months following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter—now known as X—nearly half of Twitter users identified as environmentally oriented had ceased being active on the platform. These active users, which the researchers called “Environmental Twitter,” were defined as posting on the topic at least once in a 15-day period. https://www.pomona.edu/news/2023/08/15-environmental-users-migrating-away-elon-musks-x-platform-researchers-find https://www.pomona.edu/news/2023/08/15-environmental-users-m...
- catapart 3y ago
  Oh, neat! Thanks for posting this! I hadn't seen it before. I wish there were more actual data, personally, but it's still nice to see unrelated parties seeing similar trends. Especially when they are able to cut out lots of noise, like you can do when focusing on a niche. Anyway, much appreciated!

catapart 3y ago

Oh, no, nothing empirical! Musk, the "free speech absolutist" is actually very closed-mouth about actual numbers. Loves to tout metrics that no one can validate, but will not, under any circumstance that I've seen, let anyone do any real research on the metrics. It's all just hearsay based on wire monitoring and patchwork investigations. The best estimate I've heard is that around 20-30k people really left, based on reported numbers over half a million. That seems about right, to me. 500k said they were going to leave, only 20k actually did. Of course, why that pushed the site more rightward is likewise speculation. If those numbers are accurate, I'd guess that the people who did leave were the most politically or socially aggrieved, so they would be the exact people to have outsized impact on Community Notes. And given the actual impacts that I've observed, anecdotally, that tracks pretty well with how much further right Twitter got. Not "much" but noticeable to anyone not making excuses for it.

Fnoord 3y ago
I'm one of the 20k, but I never said I would leave. I just removed my account, simple as that. And I'm probably not the only one who left without fanfare. Why would I announce to leave?

Phaedor 3y ago

A research team led by Charlotte Chang, assistant professor of biology and environmental analysis at Pomona College, found that in the six months following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter—now known as X—nearly half of Twitter users identified as environmentally oriented had ceased being active on the platform. These active users, which the researchers called “Environmental Twitter,” were defined as posting on the topic at least once in a 15-day period. https://www.pomona.edu/news/2023/08/15-environmental-users-migrating-away-elon-musks-x-platform-researchers-find https://www.pomona.edu/news/2023/08/15-environmental-users-m...

catapart 3y ago
Oh, neat! Thanks for posting this! I hadn't seen it before. I wish there were more actual data, personally, but it's still nice to see unrelated parties seeing similar trends. Especially when they are able to cut out lots of noise, like you can do when focusing on a niche. Anyway, much appreciated!