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20 tweets,
4 min read
Read on Twitter
I've been thinking a lot about Twitter. People are leaving the platform due to the toxicity of the culture on here, understandably. This tweet was the moment in 2008 that I realised how powerful the platform was. /1
The tweet in Nov 2008 was the time I realised: oh! A barman in Cleveland contacted me for a free beer after searching Twitter, as thanks for live tweeting / video / pics from the Springsteen Obama gig. Beers on the house...!
Throughout 2009 Twitter started to soar, starting with Hudson plane crash. I experimented with livestreaming on Qik using a jailbroken iPhone at Obama inauguration in Jan (and got audience to watch via Twitter).
Twitter in those days was idealistic, open and reflected much of the positive normal (non-micro) blogging culture I'd experienced from 2002 - 2008. Randomly meeting people purely because they were bloggers etc
People out to help each other / people ready to debate but with respect / robust arguments / and a feeling of something new. For much of 2009 I converted journalists to adopt it, and they also saw the same community
Usually the journalists who most resisted joining Twitter were the ones to most become enamoured with it. For 2010 and 2011 the culture generally persisted - mostly positive. The wheels for me started to come off in 2013 and later.
The vibe started to change - to varying degrees in different ways. But it was clear that something bad was happening. It's no coincidence that the IPO for Twitter was Nov 2013. You could argue that the platform morphed following the late 2012 API changes.
If you recall, Twitter changed the apps ecosystem, to streamline how people interacted with it. By the time of IPO you were beginning to notice the shift in culture. By 2014 it was a descent into the abyss really.
2014 was a significant year. Twitter was public. DAUs were important. Russian troops entered Crimea. ISIS was invading Iraq. There was an increase in general bot type behaviour, and it felt nothing was being done to stop it.
This toxic stuff, the increase in fake accounts, the increase in Nazi accounts, continued in 2014/2015/2016, with a crescendo surrounding the 2016 election cycle in the US. Twitter was now a swamp to anyone who didn't know how to filter/manage it.
At this point, it can be like being on a shitty bulletin board in the late 1990s. There was always some troll or contrarian with extreme views to pollute the community. Someone just trying to rise people - but it was also hard(ish) to do sock-puppetry, communities were smaller.
Now, Twitter is choking under the weight of toxic bots, cyborgs, racists, Nazis and generally people hiding behind avatars like being in an Excite chat room circa 1998. Arseholes migrated from shitty online communities to "mainstream" platforms.
And who is responsible? Twitter. Twitter management. Who is in charge of this community, who sets the rules? Twitter. Twitter management. And a combination of poor incentives ($) and lack of care has led to the descent of the platform.
It is disappointing that a community I joined rather late in the game (2008) has been allowed to descend into the abyss, thanks to a collection of bot networks and frustrated teens who were born around the time we were on dialup. But ultimately it's down to Twitter management.
If they cared they would combat it. I'm literally tracking bot networks right now (with some help) and it's a joke. Twitter doesn't care. They're "new" users. They say they care, but believe their actions, not their words.
When I ran a vibrant (enough) personal blog from 2002-2009 it was my website, my rules for comments, if you don't like em, then feck off. Why has Twitter failed to protect and nurture the community? Why did it appear to coincide with the IPO?
And why has Twitter fundamentally failed to manage the community? I guess it costs time and money. It might lead to less new users, or less DAUs. I'm tired of the handwringing from Twitter management. I love this platform - but Twitter are not making it easy to stay.
And reading recent tweets from some in Twitter made me realise that they still think Twitter is the same as it was in 2009. It's not. It morphed into something else. And they're either unwilling, or unable to address it.
If they don't address it; then watch that share price collapse as the people who champion the platform start to leave. And then the toxic nonsense that should never have been let happen will have won. In fact, they're starting to win. /Ends.
Oh! And finally. How *easy is it* to create an account and tweet some abuse? Watch as I do it to myself.
