Twitter was once called the global town square, the place for breaking news, debate and pithy one-liners. But that platform no longer exists, literally and philosophically.
Even in its heyday, Twitter could be a toxic place. A global audience and anonymity were already a bad combination. But despite being relatively small, it had an outsize impact on global affairs.
Journalists loved it. Since it had the media’s attention, it drove a lot of media coverage. That drew government officials, celebrities and troublemakers alike. It was an endless cycle that defined much of the mainstream agenda.
But then Elon Musk tried to buy it — then tried not to buy it, then took it private for $44 billion in October 2022 — and the end of Twitter was nigh.
He technically killed Twitter when he renamed the company, the platform and the app to X in July. But he effectively killed Twitter with a still ongoing series of problematic policy and product changes.
Musk allowed anyone to be “verified” for $8 a month — even pranksters and fraudsters. He gave visibility to paying customers over credible ones. In the guise of free speech, he reinstated accounts banned for hate speech, making threats and harassment. He began to pay accounts that drew the most attention, incentivizing provocation over accuracy.
Most critically, he eliminated the already overworked team dedicated to fighting spam and misinformation on the platform. It’s basically a money-driven free-for-all.
Musk has not been shy about his own political views. Even before war broke out in the Middle East, he was under fire for allowing and promoting antisemitic content. But now that the conflict has erupted into deadly violence, it’s painfully obvious that Twitter is no longer a reliable source of news. In fact, it’s an incredibly dangerous vector for misinformation.
This is not hyperbole. The European Union threatened to ban Twitter last week because of rampant disinformation. Researchers say it has never been worse.
Whether it’s because popular accounts are trying to stir up controversy for money, or due to state-sponsored actors running sophisticated counterintelligence operations, Twitter is worse than a digital cesspool. It’s a sprawling minefield of hoaxes, scams and malice. It brings me no joy to say so.
Until Musk, Twitter was my absolute favorite social platform. And there’s nothing out there that can replace it, or what it was. Still, I think it’s time remaining users head overboard, lest we all go down with the ship.
I strongly believe that news organizations and government agencies must quit cold turkey. Using Twitter is a tacit endorsement of what it has become, and only reaches an increasingly fringe community of users.
It’s never really driven much traffic anyway — NPR quit Twitter in April and gave up 8.7 million followers. But the impact on its actual reach was negligible. Yet nearly every business and government website has a Twitter logo and link on it. It’s becoming a reputational liability.
Where should we go to post and read news instead? It depends.
The strongest contender to be a Twitter replacement is also the youngest: Threads, from Meta, and a spinoff from Instagram. It’s quickly becoming a favorite of mine, though nobody relishes diving any deeper into Mark Zuckerberg’s massive realm. But if you’re on Instagram — and 2.3 billion people are — you get a head start on Threads in finding a community and audience.
I’ve written a lot about Mastodon, the open-source service that’s nearing 10 million users. Yet it still remains too complicated for the average person. BlueSky, which was incubated within Twitter, has a devoted following. But it’s also struggling to grow, requiring an invite to join, and has already grappled with hate and harassment.
Other young contenders include Pebble (formerly T2), also tiny and in closed beta; Spoutable, launched by a security company; Post.News, a haven for journalists; Counter.social; and Cohost.org.
Some people are even going back to Tumblr, an old-school microblogging platform. And Microsoft-owned LinkedIn is getting surprisingly good.
I’m trying them all. While none is perfect, each has its charms. And maybe a dozen options instead of one dominant app is the better way to go. The last thing we need is another Twitter. We need something better.
Ryan Kawailani Ozawa publishes Hawaii Bulletin, an email newsletter covering local tech and innovation. Read and subscribe at HawaiiBulletin.com.
