Wait and hear me out before you crucify me! Let me start by saying that I recently read the TechCrunch article about how Twitter is dying. Now, do I believe that Twitter has a lot of challenges to overcome, absolutely!
Do I believe that Musk has tossed the platform into some chaos and brought on its own set of challenges to the company, absolutely! Is it fair that Twitter is sort of becoming a “pay-to-play environment? ” Of course not but if we make a list of all the platforms that have recently or over the last 5 to 10 years that have become a pay to play network we can add to the list Facebook AKA Meta, Instagram or Snapchat. Even though LinkedIn posts are still being seen, if you have anything that is remotely promotional, you will have to pay to put that in front of more people. TikTok is technically free but the algorithm is so screwed that if you accidentally hit the wrong video you will now have hundreds of videos that all look like the one you accidentally clicked on. TikTok also has ads and even though the ads may seem frivolous and easy to look past, it’s still an ad and somebody still paid to be placed there.
So, Twitter is simply trying to find additional ways to monetize the platform and make money. I have been on Twitter for at least 15 years and like all platforms that I’ve been on which includes Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and the countless others that have come and gone, the downfall of many platforms have always been financial issues.
Twitter’s verification process has had issues ever since it was released, it was not a perfect system. I have had friends that’ve been trying for years to get the blue check mark and still never got it. Does it make it right that you have to pay to get it? No, and will there be bots that possibly will have the check marks or people that can pay to get the check marks, absolutely. The TechCrunch article mentions how journalists have been removed and releasing the social media Nazis, to each his own but if you take a look and do a deep dive into all platforms these are private companies that can add and remove whoever they like or don’t. Does it make it fair, No. Is freedom of speech impeded, possibly, but these are private companies that are allowed to do whatever they want to do and Twitter is not the first company to do this.
We can agree to disagree that Twitter is just trying to be in the race with everybody else!
Enough of my rant, what I do agree with in this article is that at the end of the day Twitter is still the lowest hanging fruit among the social media networks with the most valuable information compared to say IG or Facebook. It is knowledge at your fingertips, in the split of a second.
Is it always accurate information, no but no platform is 100% accurate information on everything that is posted. That is why we need to take it upon ourselves to do fact checks. Every other week somebody has been killed off by Twitter. Fact check it before we spread it. We owe it to ourselves to not rely on one source. In 2023, most people are on at least two social media platforms for a reason, therefore we should at least fact check our information on at least two sources including Twitter.
Currently they are saying on Twitter in the “For You Section” you will only get to see items that people have paid to place there when I look at my “for you” section now. I would say at least 8 out of the 10 items that I see serves me no purpose. I do not pay that section that much attention anyway and I doubt most people do. If you really want to keep track of people who mean the most to you on Twitter, the platform still has several features you can use. Here are these features:
- Twitter lists a curated group of Twitter accounts that allows users to organize and categorize the accounts they follow. The purpose of creating a Twitter list is to streamline the content on a user’s Twitter feed by separating it into specific topics or interests, making it easier to keep up with relevant information and engage with specific groups of people.
- Twitter Notifications are useful because they allow users to stay up-to-date on activity related to their account, such as new followers, likes, retweets, and mentions. Notifications also allow users to monitor and quickly respond to direct messages, which can help to build and maintain relationships with followers. Additionally, you can customize your notification settings to receive alerts only for the types of activity they are interested in.
- Algorithm adjustment. No you do not have direct access to the algorithms and how they affect your Twitter account but if you engage with the people who mean the most to you, the algorithm will show you those people more and you will get to see more of their tweets. This is no different than any other social media platform or search tool.
Is Twitter dying? Honestly, we’ve been waiting for Twitter to die for a long time now. We thought Facebook would have died off when they were selling our information. We thought Instagram was going to die off when we realized that Facebook, now Meta stole all the best features from Snapchat. It just made Instagram stronger. We still thought Facebook would have died off when TikTok became the number one social media platform. Hell, even Snapchat is still hanging in there.
Twitter has some challenges to overcome. It is still a beloved platform for millions of people worldwide and will continue to do so until it no longer exists. No one truly knows the fate of Twitter but until it no longer exists I and millions of other individuals will continue to tweet until we can’t and are forced to go someplace else. I still believe in the power of connecting and using Twitter and still recommend entrepreneurs and business owners engage on the platform.
What are your thoughts on this? I would love to hear your opinion on Twitter!