I took my Twitter account private four years ago. It's over.
A common refrain through the rise of social media in the Web 2.0 surge was that "you are who you follow". Your personal choices of what you post and who you engage with are an echo of your personality and your interests, and it becomes a reinforcing loop. The people you follow select what you choose to consume, and what they share becomes part of what you believe to be true. An extension of that view is that "you are where you engage" and where you choose to engage is as much a descriptor at this point as the people you engage with -- especially as large-scale social networks and platforms have increasingly been identified with specific political leanings, or, unfortunately, their billionaire owners.Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter in 2022 marked a massive cultural shift in how that platform presented itself and how comfortable it felt to continue posting there or consuming content. That era has been much discussed and you probably know it by heart already -- inclusive of undisciplined rounds of layoffs, mockery of the previous leadership, open hostility to the open web and much more, which made it a very unsafe place for women and people of color, who had helped make Twitter such a success and so much fun in its early stages.
I opted out. I took the aggressive steps not just to stop posting, but I unfollowed my entire stream, deleted all my posts and made my profile private, despite having well over 40,000 followers at peak. I absolutely do not regret it.
While the site never actually fell over, as some had expected, and Musk took some odd financial mechanisms to not only have his new asset acquired and then reacquired, obfuscating the financial issues that plagued the site, I have never been tempted to go back. It is still absolutely acceptable to take a stand for something and not go back on that choice.
The last couple weeks have seen two high profile people who I respect say they are coming back to X after having walked away. First, Casey Newton, calling it "truly unpleasant", said he was "slinking back to X." Last night, massive Apple fan and creator of Markdown John Gruber said "X Once Again Marks the Spot", highlighting how Apple's leaders have used that as their sole outlet, and other platforms, from Bluesky to Threads, have not dramatically grown, while being hostile to advancements in AI. Them changing their minds is absolutely okay for them, but it hasn't changed the fundamental reasons I left, even if I feel not engaging on X limits visibility of my content, or reduces my exposure to some news.
I fundamentally believe X is not a good place for me to be, or really, anyone. I have told friends who have refused to leave that it's not a good place for them. But I don't think I am in the evangelist space any more. I am not hustling people to join Bluesky, which I strongly prefer, and I did give Threads a decent chance through the end of 2024, when I decided I didn't want to spend more time there. But engaging there would not reflect my values, and there's strength in staying out.
Those who stayed have tried to make the argument that the web has always had differences of opinion, or that they don't consider the politics of who owns a platform as a requirement for them to participate, but for X, and for many other places, I have found it's just not worth it. I do not need to spend time in communities where I am not learning or enjoying discussions with others. I don't use Snapchat or Nextdoor for similar reasons, and I don't envy tech leaders who have had to look away from what are likely their own personal beliefs, in exchange for access to Musk's other efforts, like Starlink and SpaceX -- even as I understand their need to do so.
Toxic places have always existed on the Internet. People have always enjoyed them, and that continues.