Again, some people can’t leave Twitter. If that’s you, I empathize.
That was once me. For 7 years, my livelihood depended on Twitter.
Why? Because I helped build a popular Twitter client (Hootsuite), and that client helped feed my family.
I couldn’t leave if I wanted.
But my personal and financial situation has changed, and now I’m putting a significant amount of time and income towards helping people migrate away from Twitter.
In my own way, I feel a tremendous responsibility for what happened at Twitter.
I never worked at Twitter. But I was one hell of an evangelist for it, and helped sell governments and corporations on Twitter.
My intentions were never to create the conditions for electing Trump into office. Nor was it to help white supremacists and Russian bot farms spread their filth.
But that’s still on me—I helped.
So what can I do about it? Help the Fediverse happen!
When I worked at Hootsuite, I thought I was doing a good thing. So did many developers. We thought Twitter’s API would help usher in an era of a true digital commons where social hierarchies would be flattened.
Then Twitter started gatekeeping its algorithm.
Thereafter, they started building algorithms that heightened outrage, misinformation, and doom scrolling.
It’s not what I signed up for, but it’s what we all got. And now we’re paying the price.
@atomicpoet Honestly, Twitter playef a large part in helping democracy happen in my country. It is not all bad...now is another story of course, but Twitterjaya operates almost separately from American Twitter, with its own culture etc.
I personally think it is toxic, even the Malaysian version.
But then, so is most social media these days
Hopefully Malaysians will come around with the Fediverse
Chris Trottier
Elizabeth Tai | 戴秀铃 🇲🇾