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It will take a lot to break the network effect of X, probably more so than many other platforms, because it's very detrimental to their reach (and income/revenu

It will take a lot to break the network effect of X, probably more so than many other platforms, because it's very detrimental to their reach (and income/revenue share) for people with a lot of followers to move. So the important people will mostly stay, and they will attract back the people who leave, we've seen this a couple of cycles. Contrast that to something like Facebook. It had large network effects too, but all it takes is a few of your best friends switching at the same time, and nobody is losing a lot of reach by leaving. So they keep posting to both, but that takes work to keep up.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago
> the important people will mostly stay, and they will attract back the people who leave Important people on the left (broadly, not just lefties) are starting to leave. I think Kara Swisher just deleted her Twitter and migrated to Threads.
- elforce002 2y ago
  What I'm seeing here is lots of echo chambers getting created as we speak. Threads, bluesky, etc... I don't use Threads because I don't use Instagram that much. Everyone will have their safe space and the world will continue without any issues whatsoever. Heck, there are countries where Facebook is the "internet". Other than the left (US, UK, Canada?) posting on any of those platforms, nothing will change for the rest of the world and each one will capture what the other side said and post it on the platform.
  - JumpCrisscross 2y ago
    > lots of echo chambers getting created And X transforming into a right-wing one. > nothing will change for the rest of the world and each one will capture what the other side said and post it on the platform Network effects almost guarantee each country will choose one. My guess is Europe will migrate away from X, mostly, while South America mirrors our left/right split.
    - elforce002 2y ago
      This is interesting. We know twitter was left-wing all the way to the top and after Elon took and put both sides on equal footing, it suddenly became right-wing? C'mon man. Media is run by the left. The EU is increasingly trying to suppress dissenting voices on one side of the aisle. We'll see how long people will put off with that before things get out of control. South America is starting to divide itself between socialism (Venezuela, Bolivia, etc...) and center-right ideas (Argentina, El salvador). Time will tell.
      - purplethinking 2y ago
        Yep. There's this massive blind spot created by years of "moderation". All the media has been heavily left leaning, as well as all social media platforms. So sure, when a major social media platform removes restrictions it will of course feel to them like it's moving right, when in reality it's just balancing out. It's unacceptable for left leaning people to be subjected to any dissenting views, so they move elsewhere.
  - jjfoooo4 2y ago
    I’m skeptical it changes much. You don’t need different platforms to have echo chambers, a given platform can support more than one. I don’t experience twitter as a right wing app at all, for example
    - purplethinking 2y ago
      I've moved sharply right in the past 4 years. But I still see plenty left content on X so it doesn't seem like a complete echo chamber to me. It could be that the "left" content that reaches me is whatever enrages the people I follow, so I get an extreme view of what the left thinks now. That is a danger in the "for you tab", but I also follow plenty of people directly on the left of the spectrum.
- deleted 2y ago
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rsynnott 2y ago
> because it's very detrimental to their reach (and income/revenue share) for people with a lot of followers to move That's a problem for, like, Twitter-celebrities, sure. What percentage of Twitter users are actually interested in these, tho? I don't think, back when I was on Twitter, that I followed anyone who made money via Twitter; the only Twitter celebrities I followed were dril and a cat, and I don't think either were making money on Twitter (at any event, both dril and the cat are now on Bluesky; the cat is also on Mastodon). I'm sure there are plenty of people selling, like, get-rich-quick schemes and so on who are dependent on Twitter, but, well, who cares about them?
- purplethinking 2y ago
  I think that just based on the properties of the network/graph, it's unlikely that enough important accounts will leave, and therefore people who are interested in them can't leave. Anyone who's built a good audience is unlikely to want the platform to die, that's a big risk to them. Some people are just famous in general, and they might have an easier time migrating to new platforms and have people following them, but still, why give up all your followers? You see people like Yann LeCun announcing his leaving. Then he comes back and posts "teasers" of his Threads posts, and he's retweeting posts showing that he's still active. And this guy works for a competing social network! Maybe this time is different, the left's hate for Musk runs deep now, but my bet is X will be fine in the end.
  - rsynnott 2y ago
    Hrm. Very little of my Twitter usage was following ultra-high-follower accounts, and of those I did follow, most of them ended up simul-posting on Mastodon and/or Bluesky. I'm not sure how typical a use pattern this was, mind you.

JumpCrisscross 2y ago

> the important people will mostly stay, and they will attract back the people who leave Important people on the left (broadly, not just lefties) are starting to leave. I think Kara Swisher just deleted her Twitter and migrated to Threads.

elforce002 2y ago
What I'm seeing here is lots of echo chambers getting created as we speak. Threads, bluesky, etc... I don't use Threads because I don't use Instagram that much. Everyone will have their safe space and the world will continue without any issues whatsoever. Heck, there are countries where Facebook is the "internet". Other than the left (US, UK, Canada?) posting on any of those platforms, nothing will change for the rest of the world and each one will capture what the other side said and post it on the platform.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago
  > lots of echo chambers getting created And X transforming into a right-wing one. > nothing will change for the rest of the world and each one will capture what the other side said and post it on the platform Network effects almost guarantee each country will choose one. My guess is Europe will migrate away from X, mostly, while South America mirrors our left/right split.
  - elforce002 2y ago
    This is interesting. We know twitter was left-wing all the way to the top and after Elon took and put both sides on equal footing, it suddenly became right-wing? C'mon man. Media is run by the left. The EU is increasingly trying to suppress dissenting voices on one side of the aisle. We'll see how long people will put off with that before things get out of control. South America is starting to divide itself between socialism (Venezuela, Bolivia, etc...) and center-right ideas (Argentina, El salvador). Time will tell.
    - purplethinking 2y ago
      Yep. There's this massive blind spot created by years of "moderation". All the media has been heavily left leaning, as well as all social media platforms. So sure, when a major social media platform removes restrictions it will of course feel to them like it's moving right, when in reality it's just balancing out. It's unacceptable for left leaning people to be subjected to any dissenting views, so they move elsewhere.
- jjfoooo4 2y ago
  I’m skeptical it changes much. You don’t need different platforms to have echo chambers, a given platform can support more than one. I don’t experience twitter as a right wing app at all, for example
  - purplethinking 2y ago
    I've moved sharply right in the past 4 years. But I still see plenty left content on X so it doesn't seem like a complete echo chamber to me. It could be that the "left" content that reaches me is whatever enrages the people I follow, so I get an extreme view of what the left thinks now. That is a danger in the "for you tab", but I also follow plenty of people directly on the left of the spectrum.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]

rsynnott 2y ago

> because it's very detrimental to their reach (and income/revenue share) for people with a lot of followers to move That's a problem for, like, Twitter-celebrities, sure. What percentage of Twitter users are actually interested in these, tho? I don't think, back when I was on Twitter, that I followed anyone who made money via Twitter; the only Twitter celebrities I followed were dril and a cat, and I don't think either were making money on Twitter (at any event, both dril and the cat are now on Bluesky; the cat is also on Mastodon). I'm sure there are plenty of people selling, like, get-rich-quick schemes and so on who are dependent on Twitter, but, well, who cares about them?

purplethinking 2y ago
I think that just based on the properties of the network/graph, it's unlikely that enough important accounts will leave, and therefore people who are interested in them can't leave. Anyone who's built a good audience is unlikely to want the platform to die, that's a big risk to them. Some people are just famous in general, and they might have an easier time migrating to new platforms and have people following them, but still, why give up all your followers? You see people like Yann LeCun announcing his leaving. Then he comes back and posts "teasers" of his Threads posts, and he's retweeting posts showing that he's still active. And this guy works for a competing social network! Maybe this time is different, the left's hate for Musk runs deep now, but my bet is X will be fine in the end.
- rsynnott 2y ago
  Hrm. Very little of my Twitter usage was following ultra-high-follower accounts, and of those I did follow, most of them ended up simul-posting on Mastodon and/or Bluesky. I'm not sure how typical a use pattern this was, mind you.