Talk Is Cheap

Not clocking the volume of tweets about where people are setting up accounts as the mercurial and omnipresent ruler here sinks deeper into the lunatic fringe? https://t.co/Q2l88uqiQF

— RSchooley@socel.net (@Rschooley) November 27, 2022

Have any of them left yet?

Twitter is a very self-contained little bubble. Nowhere is this more clear than the freak out over Elmo’s running of the platform. Most of the people I read (I don’t “follow” anyone in the sense I get notifications) have feared the future there and announced new homes elsewhere (proving that everybody’s conservative about something); but none have actually left.

Some big name users declare they will remain to the bitter end. Some have said they’ve left, only to never really go. Some are really upset by the reinstatement of racists and fascists and assorted deplorables. But few seem to be voting with their virtual feet. Advertisers are; but users? Not so much.

And of course there are the users of Twitter saying we should all be disgusted with the people on Twitter and all decent people should leave Twitter…on Twitter.

I dunno; has social media made us irrational, or just exposed our irrationality again?

Tech is stacked in favor of the GOP: the Facebook groups/algorithms & YouTube algorithms favor them. They dominate AM radio & cable news. Twitter was the most balanced & responsible, so Elon bought it because the far right couldn't stomach even a hint of social responsibility. /4

— David Atkins (@DavidOAtkins) November 26, 2022

As generational replacement continues and the failures of authoritarianism become more obvious, they will lose even harder. The desperation for control will increase. Times will get more dangerous. But as long as the rest of society resists ,we will win. /6

— David Atkins (@DavidOAtkins) November 26, 2022

Which kinda means Big Tech isn’t all that important, doesn’t it? At least we’ve got to admit the shocking possibility.

Nothing changed here. No sir. https://t.co/qgz2X4tcoQ

— RSchooley@socel.net (@Rschooley) November 27, 2022

I don’t miss them; although I’m sure Elmo does. He will either give up and leave Twitter alone (probably not; the debt load is too great, and there still isn’t a model that makes this profitable), or turn it into Gab 2.0. Of course all the Twitter users will have to figure out sooner or later that “free” is an unsustainable business model, even with advertising. But that’s our problem we aren’t facing.