M.G. Siegler: A Time to Kill... Xitter

This has all been instituted under the guise of free speech, but that is, of course, bullshit. If Xitter wants to be the haven of truly free speech, it should be a completely open source and un-monetized network that no single company controls. When you have algorithms serving up certain types of content and ads are running against that content, this is all just a game.

Absolutely. X (Twitter) is not what it used to be, and it’s largely because of it’s owner and its incentives it gives its users. I’m with Siegler so far, but what’s his suggestion for an alternative?

This is why we need Threads to step up and live up to its potential as a real-time network of information.

Ugh.

Look, I’m using Threads a bit myself, but I see so many people saying things like “algorithms optimized for engagement are bad” or “I don’t like that X is owned by a billionaire” or “don’t you hate ads?” and then their solution is exactly what Siegler suggested: Threads is the answer!

Of course, Threads is owned by Meta, a company many of us want nothing to do with otherwise. It’s also completely run on algorithms that optimize for engagement.” It’s also owned by a billionaire. And yes, it’s ad-free today, but come on…how long do you think that’s going to last?

Mastodon is sitting right over here and aligns perfectly with the stated values of people who make these statements, but instead of embracing what they say they want, they go to the place that has more people and gets them more of that sweet, sweet engagement dopamine that they want.

Everyone is free to use whatever social networks they want, I’m completely fine with people using Threads if they want to. What I’m annoyed by is the hyper-predictable future where Meta does it’s classic Meta things to Threads, people get angry at it, and we go through this whole thing again when people go, “why oh why isn’t there a social network not owned by a billionaire who just wants their next billion???”

I’m not sitting here telling you Mastodon is perfect, but I will say that I have more followers there than I ever had on Twitter, my YouTube channel has grown quicker than when I was posting there, and this blog is more profitable even though I haven’t posted anything from it to Twitter or Threads in nearly 2 years. You don’t disappear from the world when you use a network with a few million users rather than 100+ million.