Tuesday open thread: To dump Twitter or not
I had told my partner in crime Trevor that I wasn't going to write on the Elon Musk takeover of Twitter for today. But then I came across Captain Sulu's tweet:
The respect I have for Mr. Takei is boundless. The respect I have for this person, well, isn't:I’m not going anywhere. Should this place become more toxic, I pledge to strive even harder to lift up reason, science, compassion and the rule of law. The struggle against fascism, misinformation, and hate requires tough fighters. I hope you stay in the fight, right beside me.
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) April 25, 2022
To Mr. Takei, I say this:
I'm not dumping it.
1. The board accepting the offer, and both SEC and DOJ approving it are two different things.
2. I'm waiting to see what Musk does.
3. Diversifying your social media sources is a good thing. Musk taking over Twitter will lead to an explosion of new social media sites with a focus on the "social" aspects, which the current ones have all but jettisoned.
To Ethan, this:
Sigh. I've voted in every election, from dog-catcher to president, since I was 18. I'm not closing my account, but neither will I subject myself to Eelon's so-called "free speech" experiment. Twitter is a service, not an obligation.
(You can tell my relative respect for the two gentlemen by how I address them.)
Twitter will still be the big boy on the block. But it's ridiculous to expect that it won't take an as-yet undetermined hit. And diversifying social media is a good thing, especially if it gets back to facilitating genuine social interactions.
If Musk does try to turn Twitter into Gab, well, he will get Gab's audience. And that's not a good thing for risk-and-controversy-adverse advertisers. They don't want a John Galt experiment that will waste their advertising dollars. Unless he wants to sink $43 billion—much of which isn't his own—for shits and giggles and to get Donald Trump back on the platform.
But chastising people for leaving a site they think might be even more toxic is churlish. Again, Twitter is a service—a service, mind you, where its users are not the customers, but the products being sold to advertisers. It's not an obligation of citizenship.
So, I'm not giving up my account, because media will still use it as the biggest shop on the corner. But do I understand the motivations of people who cancel their accounts? Oh yes. And I will not look down on them.
At the end of the day, you have to make decisions which are best for your wellbeing. We still live in a free society.
This is your open thread.