Chris Trottier

My pet peeve is when journalists refer to Twitter as the Internet because:

1. Regular people rarely use Twitter
2. Technically-inclined people don't prefer Twitter
3. Other social media services, such as Reddit, have as much usage as Twitter
4. Twitter isn't even where most Internet memes are generated

Dear journalists, if you believe Twitter is representative of the Internet, it's because you're stuck in an echo chamber. Get off Twitter. Go use the actual Internet for once.

Pic is relevant.

May 29, 2022 at 7:23pmWeb
Show threadChristopher SnowhillMay 29, 2022
@atomicpoet My entire extended family doesn't seem to use the Internet beyond Facebook. Makes me so glad I never had to worry about coming out anywhere else and not Facebook, since it means I never have to come out to the rest of my family. If any of them are clever enough to find me elsewhere, they'll probably understand why, too.
Show thread🐧DaveNull🐧 ☣️pResident Evil☣May 29, 2022
@atomicpoet They seems to not understand "The Internet" is a network, not a person or Skynet. It doesn't "react" to anything… By the way, "web" and "Internet" are two different things. Social media be it twitter or something else, is just a small part of the web. It is not and can't be "the Internet".
Show threadloganMay 29, 2022
@atomicpoet EH , another supposedly famous person i've never heard of before. 👍
Show threadAlex DarbyMay 29, 2022
@atomicpoet on point 2, while they may not prefer it, they certainly use it. Agree with all points though. 4 websites != the internet.
Show threadGregory VanderlaanMay 29, 2022
@atomicpoet I never READ Twitter because there is too much PRAVDA... Bots Posting GOP CrazyTalk® - Not Much Actual Value There... I WRITE to Twitter because Some random people get to read my words... and LEARN... I also post on 13 other Social Media Sites... Mastodan is one of my favorites... Here is a Chainsawed Bear... Enjoy!
Show threadXapmat May 29, 2022
@atomicpoet I hate that a lot of ‘news articles’ are a paragraph that has been reposted 45 times and the rest is 30 clips of what people have said on Twitter about the subject.
Show threadstyMay 29, 2022
@atomicpoet though if you don't post this on Twitter they'll never read it
Show threadChris TrottierMay 29, 2022
@sty They won't read it anyway, but that's another story.
Show threadyin yang yoinkMay 30, 2022

@atomicpoet it's funnier on sites with forums or UGC

10 people react on Twitter: newsflash! to the front page! people are furious!

100 people react on their own site: meh. *the moderator bans the drama*

Show threadRyuno-KiMay 30, 2022

@atomicpoet
„Pic is relevant“ but barely described …

#accessibility #altText

Show threadChris TrottierMay 30, 2022
@RyunoKi I usually include it but this time I forgot.
Show threadRyuno-KiMay 30, 2022
@atomicpoet
Always a chance to add a reply with an extended one (I actually went looking in the hopes of one because relevance)
Show threadChris TrottierMay 30, 2022

@RyunoKi The headline says, "The Internet reacts to Jimmy Butler's game 6 in Boston."

By the Internet, they're actually referring to Twitter.

Show threadcapriceDesHommesMay 30, 2022
@atomicpoet
Do you have a more relevant example? Sport journalism hardly counts as journalism
Show threadbhtooefrMay 30, 2022

@atomicpoet The other thing I see is Reddit being “The Internet”.

Which, well, isn’t necessarily representative either.

Show threadkarmanyaahmJun 1, 2022

@atomicpoet I disagree. I don't think these 'journalists' (if celebrity reactions counts as journalism) think that.

The statistics term for this is a non-representative 'convenience sample'. In fact, I doubt they even tried to be representative of all Twitter users, much less all Internet users, it's just to maximize convenience and entertainment-potential.

Show threadkarmanyaahmJun 1, 2022
@atomicpoet *the journalists, I can't say anything about *these* specific ones