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Brian likes this post.

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Twitter makes money selling ads, and your nobody eyes are what they pay Twitter to get in front of. Active users is important to them.

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I am not sure how it works, but if active users manage to dodge ads my guess is they are still counted as eyeballs when Twitter is pitched to potential advertisers.

I read tweets all the time, but only when they are reposted on non-twitter sites like this one.

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I don’t intend to guilt anyone for staying on the platform. I’m just trying to understand what drives behavior.

I know my one tiny account is meaningless, but for me, it is the only think I can control. I personally can’t support a platform that gives a bullhorn to someone like Trump.

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So, do you watch TV? Listen to the radio?

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So get a third party app to look at it. But that’s missing the point. If you want to read it, you obviously like Twitter or get some use out of it.

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Firefox with uBlock is very effective too, especially with latest tweets view.

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Are you asking me?

I don’t have TV or radio really. I dumped Facebook about 4 years ago.

But I struggle regularly with the ethics of how I spend my money. I still use Amazon, for example. I constantly debate with myself about whether I should cut ties with Bezos and Co

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I dropped Prime after the most recent price jump to $140/yr. I’ve found that without the free two-day shipping I don’t use Amazon anymore. Not an ethics-based decision upfront… but it’s been easier to avoid shopping there when that weighs in the back of my mind along with the longer delivery times.

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Being social is having to deal with shitty people, no matter the platform.

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I don’t know about you all, but I’m a bit depressed about all of this. It’s like the hard-right just got a sounding platform that’s going to drown out a lot decency in our society, like a propaganda platform out of control. Must sitting above it all like a drunk puppeteer.

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  1. It provides me access to information I can’t get elsewhere in a timelier manner than I can get elsewhere. I get easy access to journalists covering the Ukraine front war in Ukraine. I get access to critical analysis of the war from 3 and 4-star generals from the US, UK, and Australia.
  2. It provides access to medical experts from a variety of academic institutions and I can see them deliberate Covid restrictions.
  3. It provides access to a variety of artists (I’m trying to learn to draw and paint).
  4. It provides me with access to historians who regularly put up threads discussing a wide range of interesting topics.

Can I get this information elsewhere? Some of it, but not all of it.

I don’t think there’s a great source of military analysis on the war on Ukraine. You could go around and try to visit a whole bunch of different websites. The reporters I follow are working for news organizations, although their twitter feeds are more timely. The generals do show up on TV, but frankly their long twitter threads provide more succinct and more detailed analysis than having some talking head interview them for 3-5 minutes a few times a week.

I would assume if I really wanted to i could find medical discussions, but the MDs (usually working for academic institutions) do try to make the Twitter threads more readable for the general public.

I know there’s also a lot of artists on Instagram, but frankly Instagram’s interface is crap and is clearly designed for cellphone use. AFAICT there is no way to see someone’s drawing or painting on Instagram and display it full screen — I have no idea why artists are on that platform, because it seems terrible. On iPad and Windows you always see a small sized artwork and then a lot of crap surrounding it. I want to see the artwork, not who liked it. I suppose there’s Art Station, but it doesn’t have the same mix of art presentation and a lively discussion amongst artists that Twitter does.

I could go digging for history websites, but Twitter gives me a nice variety of topics I like. I follow Napoleonic historians, The Tank Museum, WW2 historians, the occasional pre-modern era or ancient history post mixed in because someone I follow liked it. I like the variety I get from Twitter.

This is what art looks like on Instagram. This is from Aaron Blaise who was an animator for Disney for some 20 years.

Does this look like a good way to enjoy art?

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Why there’s no way to blow up the art piece as on any other platform, I have no idea. It’s like they are deliberately trying to de-emphasize the art work. This is the best I can get.

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You’re overreacting.

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Being social does not mean you have to financially support the business ventures of terrible people through a medium that arguably causes damage to democratic institutions.

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The problem with an unmoderated public square is that it is much easier to keep making up and shouting new lies than it is to address them.

Also plus the whole being able to incite hatred and violence thing.

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OK that’s good.

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I sent a note and screenshot to Uber Eats because their ad popped up right over some anti-Semitism coupled with blatant Russian propaganda. Told them that image is burned into my mind as if Uber Eats is sponsoring them, and I wouldn’t use their service anymore. Won’t make a difference, but maybe they’ll throw that into the advertising consideration bin.

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It’s always been that way. Anything Trump says is already posted all over Twitter. There is just as much left wing talk on it as well.

Twitter is a big place, there is tons of nonpolitical stuff going on there like nothing has changed as well.