You changed when Elon Musk took over. The keyboard warriors found strength in their anonymity and delivered waves of misinformation, hate and fear.
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The more people I blocked, unfollowed, or just tried to stay away from it seems you found unusual ways to help their content find me.
The commercialisation has nothing to do with our parting ways. I completely understand and do not blame Elon for making money from you. But that didn’t need to be at the expense of your credibility, trust and brand.
I’m not looking for an echo chamber or a silo of my own views and opinions to bounce off, but I am most certainly not looking for the putrid hate and misinformation your platform has become about.
The ugliness of politics and wars, the persecution of minorities, the over inflated opinions of the few, the non-stop barrage of name-calling, vilification, whining, whingeing, and outright lies: there’s a reason people are leaving you in droves. It’s just too hard to stay reasonable, thoughtful or to contribute anything truly worthwhile now.
The Medianet 2024 Media Landscape Report backs my thoughts. It found that many media and journalists have also turned their backs on X as a source of stories, ideas, content and experts. It’s sad to think that what was once an amazing resource for journalists, and was designed for them, has now become redundant.
To quote the report directly: “There was a significant drop in professional Twitter/X usage in 2023, with 58 per cent of respondents saying they used the platform, down from 69 per cent in 2022. Ten per cent identified having either recently deleted their account or stopped using it in 2023.”
With a drop of 11 per cent in one year and that number looking likely to increase in 2025, your platform is now cooked for journalism and communicators.
It’s such a shame considering the ever-changing media landscape in Australia. In Perth particularly, where newsrooms are often understaffed, you provided a brilliantly simple resource to connect with the masses and find those all-important case studies.
While we’re at it, I shall not be jumping over to Threads either. That’s just a token platform that Meta will have you believe is a happier and more inclusive one. There’s no evidence of that … and I will jump off it once I remember what my password is. And that reminds me, Facebook, we also need to talk.
But for now, while it breaks my heart to end this, it’s time. I wish you well, our times were swell — but now it’s time to say farewell.
XXX.
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