Thread by @JennaPrice

THREAD: I first asked students to get Twitter accounts back in 2009. Filled with enthusiasm for what I thought would be a useful social medium, I got them to sign up. Real photo, real name, contact details.

Now I think Twitter has changed markedly. For that reason, I
would no longer encourage students to use Twitter to engage.

It's no longer a safe workplace or study place.

I wasn't on here much on Sunday but when I looked at Twitter on Sunday night, there was far too much violent language and imagery.

It's not just the rising level of abuse (which Twitter itself ignores). Nor is it just the inability of the platform to remove those who are abusive, racist, homophobic, misogynist and more.

It's also that what happens on Twitter is not real engagement. In fact, I doubt that many of the tweeters even read the stories they are abusing. I know that because you can tell what the reach is and what the engagement is, down to whether anyone has clicked on the actual link.

And that's the problem really. There is no genuine engagement.

Twitter is fine if you just want to follow news or celebrities and that can be useful, a way to pass time. But I wouldn't consider it to be really useful there either. There are certainly better ways to follow celebrities, for example, Instagram.

And as for news, far better to go to sites and read the breadth of what they have to offer; and not to hope that you will catch everything here in this wasteland.

In the meantime, the mute button will stop you responding to those who have no self-control. The block button encourages push back but is helpful as a last resort.

I find myself saying to people who tweet me rudely, have you actually read the story? The answer is mostly no.

So, not sure what Twitter is good for any more but, for the most part, it's not good as a tool for engagement or discussion. And it doesn't encourage reading beyond the actual tweet. Wouldn't it be great if we all stretched our attention span beyond a tweet?

And worse, the abuse and language discourages discussion and real engagement. That's a very bad result for all of us.
Thread ends, I think.