I honestly have a lot of empathy for people who are having trouble letting go of Twitter because they used to be popular, or very engaged, there. I made amazing relationships there, and there was a time when I really loved the feedback loop I had. (I didn’t care that much about being “known”, but I valued the access it gave me.) It’ll be years before the fediverse reaches its own equivalent strengths, and I don’t fault anyone for struggling to transition from a familiar (if failing) platform.
@anildash that’s kinda where I am right now. Mourning the platform I’ve been on for years and the relationships and community curated there, but excited to build elsewhere and strike out on my own again. Remember personal websites? Remember how we used to get news before social media? The user experience was so different.
@anildash I got a bunch of followers on Twitter years ago when I started using it actively, and it kind of skewed how I used the platform. Everything ended up feeling performative, and I found myself subconsciously choosing to filter out stuff that wasn't "good enough", until I just stopped posting altogether.
@anildash
i went through the FOMO / YOLO / whatever for a while.
i progressed from being agitated that more people who i enjoyed interacting w/ there didn't move here to \_(ツ)_/
i won't even click thru if i see the link is to something on twitr. i'm done.
@anildash That, and also: https://mastodon.me.uk/@garius/110159189433131699
@anildash I hear all of this 💜 @eric’s described leaving Twitter as a kind of mourning, and that’s the best analogy I’ve found for my feelings since leaving it. https://ericwbailey.design/published/my-mastodon-strategy/
@anildash I regard people on twitter similarly to those who buy beachfront property in Florida -- go ahead, enjoy it while it lasts.
but there has to be more we can do collectively to speed it along.
@anildash Someday all those little blue bird links on websites that made it easy to retweeet URLs will be replaced with icons to make it easy to share with a toot, but not today
@anildash I can't completely let go of Twitter yet. I wish I could.
I do however find that Mastodon currently feels like the early days of Twitter, so that scratches the itch of nostalgia that Twitter can no longer satisfy.
LB: I often see people here heavily criticizing those who are still on Twitter and… folks, we should be better than that. The world is much more complicated than the black-and-white scenarios you depict.
People have relationships. People have cliques. People have communities. People have sources of income. And people make compromises. You can’t blame them for hesitating in rebuilding everything from scratch. They are not selfish, or unaware, or uncaring, or clout-chasers.
@anildash I miss the people who haven’t “traversed over”
But this site is so much safer
@anildash Agree (although I personally would still fault those who should know better, particularly activists/journalists who cover the far right).
I feel desperately sad for those others who feel they can't lose their community but now seem to spend all their days on there being tortured by the disgusting bullying and baiting the extremists Musk let back on are continually spewing (particularly Glinn3r), and still urging people to report them as if that will achieve anything any more.
@anildash John green was refreshingly open about this on Twitter recently:
https://twitter.com/johngreen/status/1633168529582088194?s=20
@anildash I met a lot of people on Twitter. And when the Bayer factory siren is malfunctioning, I know that my council person and the nearly retired guy from emergency preparedness who knows everything will be on Twitter explaining what's up.
I hope public agencies transition to Mastodon soon.
When there's an emergency public notification (earthquake, flood, wildfire, mass shootings, tornado, hurricane; all the favorites of Republican billionaire donors)
People who were suspended from Twitter or are boycotting Twitter or refuse to use Twitter aren't getting these alerts now
Public safety.
@anildash what's happening with Black Twitter these days? Last I heard was back in December.
@anildash Twit platform has seen better times, your way it was posting sentiment is quite apt, but it is infinitely more pleasing to be distancing from the petulant owner…
@anildash most of my book sales come from there and my mutuals.
Losing twitter greatly reduces my visibility.
@anildash I realized recently that it was especially brutal to lose spaces for digital community after losing so many IRL communities in the pandemic too
I rebuild most my technical contacts here.
I built a new network of writers.
But what I really miss? Pet Rat Twitter. I desperately miss those people.
@anildash For me, it’s just the “ugh” of having to get into a new routine.
@anildash I’m not struggling…I’m still on Twitter for the exact same strategic reasons that I’ve had and honesty, my experience hasn’t changed much, beyond the increase in spam DMs
I’d really love if folx, many of whom had NEVER been the targets of the harm many of us experience on ALL social media platforms, including MASTODON, would stop “shaming” folx for their choice to stay and focus on making social over a better experience for ALL
@anildash I built a whole network in a new country (Spain) mostly while still in U.S. and got a job from it, plus made many friends and personal connections. Also Spain Mastodon is virtually nonexistent at the moment.
@anildash Twitter has driven people to only value "engagement", and not discussion or communication. One thing I see a lot of people complain about when trying Mastodon is that they aren't able to get their message out to as many people as possible. They expect this to be a bullhorn, not a community.
@anildash "It’ll be years before the fediverse reaches its own equivalent strengths"
Why?
The Fediverse is not "weak". I have better interactions here than on any other social network ever.
What do you consider it miss to be "strong" ?
@anildash I miss some of my Twitter buddies I used to chat with. I check for them every now and then on here. I found two or three but I've made loads of new friends. I'm glad I'm off Twitter.
@anildash I used to love social media, especially Twitter. I had great conversations, made great friends. I made a lot of professional hay, too. But recently, owing to a combination of near-zero engagement and the icky feeling of putting money in the pockets of bad men, I’ve struggled to find the desire to share much of anything. I’m hopeful about the fediverse, but I haven’t had many interactions at all here. Maybe after a fallow season, something will bloom…
@anildash There's still SO MANY THINGS on Twitter you can't get here too. None of the official Xbox accounts here are active, I can't get my new game release trailers. None of my state's emergency management communications are here. No way to get surprisingly good customer service from Comcast or other crappy companies via. DM here...
Maybe those things will change but some of them require the fediverse embrace comprehensive search, which I'm not sure will ever happen. :(
@anildash It is very frustrating to be fed up with Twitter and watching it come apart piece by piece, but not being satisfied that any of the alternatives are viable replacements
@anildash Some are indeed “struggling”, as you say.
Some are just shrugging. That realization tainted my view of a good number of the connections I made over there.
@anildash have tried anything else? Curious what you think of substack et al
@anildash It's really hard to let go, especially seeing some of those communities not make it over to the platforms I've joined.
Training myself to come here and post first, but it's been a battle :(
@anildash One of my H8R friends resumed his twitter activities, and he points out how many sh*++y people there are there.
In one thread, there was a person who previously used the N-word to describe Asians and another who suggested public hangings for drug dealers.
While I miss the "diversity of thought" on the Birdsite, I rather deal with nice people with coherent thoughts that I find on the much smaller Mastodon.
@anildash I do fault people who see themselves as moral champions, though. This really is a case of 'you just have to stop'. If you can't stop at this point, where is your stopping point? And the more folk who see themselves as the Jedi in the equation stick around, the more the other people a) really can't be bothered to change their routine and b) feel that the stuff they're seeing & interacting with is 'normal'.
@anildash most of my friends are still there. Friends aren't replaceable, so it's a matter of waiting until the platform becomes truly unusable before the people I spent ten years with there will leave for other pastures.
I mean. I went so far as to set up a #Supernatural instance here, and maybe a dozen of my twitter friends made an account, but I think maybe 2 or 3 actually use the accounts.
@anildash It is so true. I felt a loss of identity leaving Twitter. And I'm not sure I manage to become one again in the Fediverse. Especially I miss the special community of educators discussion pedagogy under the hashtag #skolechat - but also the vast interdiciplinary discussion of politics, ethics and philosophy. Bring back my community, please! #feelinglostinthefediverse
@anildash @mekkaokereke Same here. I was honestly surprised by how easy it was for me to walk away, when I made so many friends there and it was a source of professional opportunities. But due to trolls and weirdos I'd already hit the point of diminishing returns. I don't think it would have been so easy to just close the app and not open it anymore if I was still getting the same value from it that I had been.
@anildash well, when I decided that 🦣 wasn't going to replace 🐦 for me because it has its own strengths and weaknesses, it was ok for me. I still use both platforms but very differently and I don't use 🐦 that much anymore
@anildash It’s an important lesson about not living under a cyber dictatorship.
@anildash I moved in November, but it was an extremely painful, emotional process. No one gives up a community of X years (15 for me) without a struggle.
@anildash At its best it "grew" my world- I learned a lot from a variety of people on that platform. Followed the journeys of a lot of wonderful folks.
@anildash
same. I've been on twitter sense launch, and have a few long time online friends over there. It would be easier if everyone jumped to a new service but so many are remaining.
@anildash Twitter as we knew it is already gone. I made my peace with that but it takes time. I miss my tweeps.
@anildash I'm bemused that after ignoring appeals for account suspension, that when I simply filed a CCPA request for an inventory of data collection they instead reinstated the account(s).
It's a site in deep turmoil, flailing and contorting in heaving paroxysms of willfully inept dumbassery.
@anildash Yes, it was really hard for me to leave after being on Twitter for 16 years! I made so many friends and learned so much there. But Musk was the last straw. I'm done, at least as long as he's in charge.
@anildash I hate to say that if they hadn’t killed Tweetbot, I’d probably still be there
@anildash my big weird one is that Formula 1 Fan Twitter hasn’t migrated at all to Mastodon, so having abandoned Twitter, it’s the one thing I’ve kind of gone adrift on.
@anildash I don't fault them but I won't stop urging them. It's a bad place to be and getting worse every day
@anildash It's really tough for people in the chronic illness/diability communities, who are often isolated. Twitter provides/d a lot of connection that's very difficult to find elsewhere.
@anildash I had 8k followers -- nothing on your scale, but they were real people (according to bot checker sites), most of whom I interacted with regularly and I genuinely cared about.
I've walked away from both accounts.
The thing is, I'm medically vulnerable & in pandemic solo isolation. So I just disconnected from almost everyone I know.
For me, it was morally necessary. It has also been brutal.
Thank you for seeing the choice is not simple & the costs can be high.
@anildash @tchambers that may justify their continued presence on Twitter, but not their lack of efforts to recreate that experience elsewhere. Especially because it's something that takes time, the latter they get started and the less effort they put in NOW that both exist, the worse off they'll be when —inevitably— Twitter goes down for good.
@anildash same. I had a good network of colleagues on there who seemed interested in my posts and interacted a lot with it. That is now gone, unfortunately, until that moment when they decide to move. LinkedIn seems to be a bit of an alternative to them but to me, it’s another walled clickbait garden full of ads.
@anildash I recently launched Delete Twitter, https://deletetwitter.com
It is so tough getting the messaging right, particularly considering your empathetic viewpoint, which I share.
Thank you, the replies to this are very informative as well!
@anildash I think a lot of folks on social media suffer from a lack of curation of their feeds. Muting tags, keywords, judicious use of block & mute has kept my TL on Twitter drama free, & honestly, I keep that the same no matter the platform.
I've a circle of friends who I met on Twitter that, really, no amount of harping is going to draw me away from. So all the negativity I see on Mastodon directed at Twitter users really only serves to make me feel negative...towards those Mastodon users.
@anildash I left Twitter in November and boy, did I miss it! I would ask what was going on there like I was talking about an ex. I still wish more journalists and politicians were here, but the reasons I left are still true so ...no regrets.
@anildash – Twitter was a large part of my life, but I am letting go a little bit at a time.
@anildash I think the worst part is that there isn’t and won’t ever be something that replaces it in a meaningful way.
@anildash Empathy sure, but not only. It's been almost six month since Melon Husk took over and it was quite clear where this was heading from the start. I think it is also more than natural to be upset with these people, who have been rationalizing their continued involvement with often ridiculous claims and grand standing. The more of them that would have made the move here early, the better the fediverse would now be.