This morning I read “Elon Musk Backs Off Legacy Checkmark Purge“. As a long time Twitter user, and someone who held Musk in high regard, I’ve been following the acquisition by Musk with a personal interest. This particular situation has been…fascinating.
Ultimately, Musk fails to understand the value of verification. Yes, it provides some value to the user, but far more value comes to Twitter. Knowing that this person posting REALLY is Steven King, Will Shatner, etc, brings value to Twitter since we KNOW who we’re interacting with. By building that direct connection between fans and creators, Twitter gains.
In his rush to monetize everything (anything?) on the platform, he has lost focus on what makes Twitter interesting and valuable. Which is sad. Over the years, I’ve met amazing and wonderful people. People who’s friendship I value as deeply as anyone I’ve met In Real Life. I’ve learned a huge amount from them.
Fortunately, it’s not been too hard to tune out Musk’s antics. But the increase in hate speech and right wing rage making its way into my feed has deeply detracted from my experience. I still post, but much less often. And I spend far less time on it (which certainly is a net positive).
Will Twitter survive Musk? Possibly. Will it return to what it was before? No. But the platform has evolved considerably since its launch and will continue to. What it looks like next year is extremely hard to predict. We’ll see, I guess.
Very much agree with this, Carl. I understand people who thought the checks were elitist—they kind of were. But they really helped reduce the scammer chaos on the platform and I also like knowing that was really Stephen King, or Jon Stewart, or whoever. I’ve had my own (personal) issues with Twitter for a very long time because of poor choices/boundaries, but the things that keep happening on Twitter in addition to those other things have made me let go of it. I’m kind of sad…but kind of not. I think I’m a lot happier right now on a personal level. But I do really miss my sweet people from Twitter. Fortunately I’m connected to them other places too —Amy
Once Mr. Musk announced that he was thinking of acquiring Twitter, I started collecting the websites, other socials, etc, for those I cared about. Subscribed to a lot of blogs and Substacks, followed a bunch of new Instagram and Mastadon accounts.