Twitter’s already headed down the uncool social media curve like Facebook before it. There will be an exodus, but it would have happened either way.
Once the parents get on, it starts the decline. When the grandparents are there…
The “political” polarization is part of it. The older folks bring it with them. The majority flock to sites for information and escapism. The back and forth is just exhausting.
It’s clearer for geek sites. Slashdot died when it got corporate and the content went to crap. Digg was the same. Reddit’s in process except niches. It’ll be same here.
> Twitter’s already headed down the uncool social media curve like Facebook before it. There will be an exodus, but it would have happened either way.
Once the parents get on, it starts the decline. When the grandparents are there…
> The “political” polarization is part of it. The older folks bring it with them. The majority flock to sites for information and escapism. The back and forth is just exhausting.
> It’s clearer for geek sites. Slashdot died when it got corporate and the content went to crap. Digg was the same. Reddit’s in process except niches. It’ll be same here.
> For everything there is a season.
What you sound like:
Yes and there shall be an exodus from the Twitters.
The parents shall come in, then the grandparents shall follow. Once those generations arrive the decline shall start. Not before. Not long after. But right after the grandparents, whence they arrive.
The polarization shall induce the decline. This wrought on by the older generations. And this is when the majority shall flock to sites for information and escapism.
Just as Slashdot, and Digg, declined before it, so shall the Twitters decline as well.
For everything, there is a season.
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With your prescience, you must be a billionaire. Why don't you just buy Twitter off of Elon?
But the parents are already there. Like, uh, me. And most of my Twitter friends are similarly aged. And some of their parents are there. My mute list grows every couple months. I don’t mind political content but get tired of being battered by angry repetitive posts. Most of the people I know who abandoned facebook did it for that reason.
The younger folks I know don’t have an account or care. I don’t even know what the cool thing is anymore. That’s probably the point.
It’s already in its decline, the user numbers maybe don’t reflect it yet. And it’s not prescient any more than watching any historical trend repeat itself is.
There’s more than a billion reasons I’m not a billionaire, including. I’m not brave, smart, or initially wealthy enough are a few.
If I were, I wouldn’t buy a social media site. I also wouldn’t buy a TCBY franchise. These are things that might be great short term, but risk increases over time. A 1-2 year old TCBY is packed with kids. A 5+ year old one looks like every near empty ice cream shop. They all have the same smell, it’s weird.
Anyway, I’m risk adverse… and that lack of bravery is partly why I’m not wealthy in any sense.
I might be wrong about all of this. Just applying what I’ve seen from the past to the present.
I am the older folks. My Twitter friends are the older folks. And my mute word list grows every election or scandal to cover the copy/paste rhetoric from “both” sides. Maybe 1/3 of my follows hit that.
It’s not a statement that all or even most older people do it. I anecdotally see it more from older demographics. I might be wrong. I probably am tiptoeing the line of “ist” there. Definitely don’t mean to say all or most older people, but I am generalizing on a demographic. I’ll have to think about that more.
I don’t think statements like that should be “disallowed” anywhere except places like employment, etc. And it’s never OK to say that a generalization applies to an individual because they are within a demographic.
I think if Musk pulls off what he’s trying to, it’ll be better than now. I block and mute Trump, Biden, etc. anyway. When I want to get politics I reach out for it in a format >280 characters.
I don’t idolize or demonize Musk. He’s just another person with talents and flaws like the rest of us. He does some smart stuff. He does some head scratching things. He likes attention, can be hilarious, clever, or, as my kids say, “cringey.” But I don’t want him to be anything other than he wants to. We need all of that in the world.
This is more a statement that Musk isn’t going to ruin Twitter. I think it will follow the same historical curve as all social media and it has 0 to do with him. And pre social media things as well, since at least WWII. “The kids” set trends. By the time the majority latches on, they’ve moved on. Heck, you can probably see that in slang’s impact on “proper” language much longer.
I’ll be happy if/when “epic” leaves slang. For some reason that one irritates my pedantry more than any other.
Once the parents get on, it starts the decline. When the grandparents are there…
The “political” polarization is part of it. The older folks bring it with them. The majority flock to sites for information and escapism. The back and forth is just exhausting.
It’s clearer for geek sites. Slashdot died when it got corporate and the content went to crap. Digg was the same. Reddit’s in process except niches. It’ll be same here.
For everything there is a season.