Twitter is Not the Only Tool in Your Toolbox

Jack Dorsey's resignation this week has caused many to re-evaluate the platform and where it may be heading.

"Twitter is an online society. To survive it, the individual must ignore the news, leave the mobs, disassociate from the angry and the confused, and dismiss both compliments and insults." - Naval Ravikant

Jack Dorsey resigned as CEO of Twitter this week and that has caused many people to re-evaluate the platform and where it may be heading. The fear is that it will become more authoritarian and there's no denying that the fear is not unfounded. For example - what Twitter did to the New York Post over the Hunter Biden laptop story was indefensible. But Jack Dorsey was impotent to do anything about it - and he was the CEO at the time. 

The new content policy immediately enacted by the new CEO is VERY troubling. It seems geared specifically to silencing things like Project Veritas and Andy Ngo's coverage of Antifa. But it could equally be applied to those awesome flash mob choir videos. How does that make Twitter a better place?

Personally I use Twitter (@ALargeRegular) as a tool to get information - mainly on science, sports and more recently on crypto developments. I also find it a great source of humor. I find Twitter an excellent tool for these purposes but it is not the only tool available to either me or anyone else.

I do not use Twitter to document the minutia of my life (which was actually Twitter's original purpose) or to argue politics or anything else with strangers. There is nothing but pity in my heart for those who spend their time on Twitter on those pursuits. 

Gaining followers, getting retweets, or "Likes" is a nice side benefit - no denying that. The serotonin rush that accompanies those things is a scientific fact. But, again, not my purpose for spending time on Twitter. My Dunbar's Number for following people on Twitter is 300. Anything higher than that and I find my timeline gets unwieldly. I honestly don't get people who follow thousand of accounts. How do they keep up with all the posts?

My primary focus on being on Twitter is to stay informed and to learn about subjects I care about. It's that simple. I am concerned about the censorship but that concern is tempered by the fact that I know Twitter is not the only tool in my Internet toolbox. I listen to podcasts, have a Blogroll on my blog of sites I visit frequently, and increasingly I get information from interesting writers here on Substack.

The Mute button is my friend on Twitter and I use it liberally to keep the Bozos and braindead out of my feed. However, if Twitter gets increasingly polluted by views from only one side of the aisle or if censorship runs amok - Twitter will cease to be a useful tool for me. And I'll stop using it.

That said, I currently still agree with the Shane Parrish quote, "I've learned more on Twitter than in any classroom." As I said above my Dunbar's Number for people I follow on Twitter is 300 but if people like Naval Ravikant or Shane Parrish abandon Twitter and I can't find enough accounts worth following - I probably won't be far behind in ditching the platform.

Nobody is forcing me to be on Twitter but those running the platform have to remember that I also have to have a reason to stay.