I started using Twitter in late 2007, at the urging of several friends, who felt that as a blogger it would be a good way to extend my reach. And it did. From 2012 to 2021 Twitter (Tweetbot) was one of my top three tools for learning. It dropped to fourth place after Musk bought the company and then it dropped completely off my list.
Over the years I have noted that the micro-blogging platform let me stay in loose touch with many people. I wrote that next to my blog, Twitter was my best learning tool and allowed me to stay connected to a diverse network [SEEK & SHARE]. For several years Twitter was the largest source of visitors to this blog. It even eclipsed Google search.
Beginning in 2022 it was becoming obvious that Twitter would no longer be the place where movements like Arab Spring or Black Lives Matter could grow. The move to becoming a fascist-promoting rage-inducing factory was quite obvious in 2022 and it is blindingly obvious now.
In 2022 I had about 20,000 followers and being connected to a network that diverse was a powerful incentive for me to stay on X. Now I have much better conversations and very few trolls on Mastodon — from platforms to covenants . I do not miss the constant doubt and outrage of Twitter either, even though I used to think I could get around that by carefully curating who I followed. That is impossible now and even blocking does not work on X because those you block can now read your feed, thanks to the new ownership.
My Friday’s Finds have come mostly from Mastodon over the past two years and now nothing will come from X. And that’s not a bad thing.
Farewell little bird. You were once a very important place for learning, sensemaking, and understanding others.
