Who still uses Twitter / X and why?

I binned it last week, it's progressively more and more bot-infested, with pretty much half the comments on everything appearing to be AI generated, and even the block function doesn't work properly now. It's a shame, because there are some contributors there who are genuinely worth reading.

I still use it because I think living in your own bubble of people who only think like you is counter-productive.

Can't say I've seen a massive difference in content since Musk took over though - but I mainly follow F1 related people! 🙂

I follow a lot of journalists and other useful commentators. I stick to the "Following" tab so I only see posts from people I follow. I use a sockpuppet account, not my real name. I occasionally reply to posts but never post myself. I ruthlessly block trolls and people posting misinformation. If you do all that, it's still useful but it is slowly decaying.

I used to get the occasional follower, who nearly all turned out to be ladies who like posting pictures in their underwear, which I block. Recently, those "followers" increased from one or two a week to multiple per day. Interesting thing is the accounts all seem to date from about July  to September 2023. Wonder what changed around then to cause so many bot accounts to spring up.

I visit only so I can see "Dudes Posting Ws" and "Jerry of the day". I can probably live without them until they migrate to Bluesky though so my plan (vague idea) to close my account is probaby going to go ahead

Well I'm still "there" in the sense of having an account, and I do look at it a little, but stopped posting last year. As a scientist I found it very useful in the past but bluesky has taken over that mantle and I could probably delete my xitter account now (though I may want to import my posts into bsky first).

I'm on Threads now, but have left my Twitter account dormant for a few months. Was looking forward to going back after Harris won the election just to see the fallout. Oh well...

Wonder what changed around then to cause so many bot accounts to spring up.

Didn't Musk use the bots as his original excuse for wanting to buy Twitter, so he could get rid of them?

I only use it to check the local bus cancellations. Stagecoach put their updates on it.

Yep, but also on Bluesky and Threads.

Still on Twitter (but limiting what I use it for) mainly because most US Sports accounts haven't made it over to Bluesky as yet and Threads on desktop is a mess and not sure there is an easy way to see if there is a Threads account for my Twitter follows like there is for Bluesky.

If Bluesky hits a certain level of ubiquity I'll likely ditch Twitter and just ignore Threads.

As above, I only ever used the "following" view, so all the talk of algorithms really didn't mean much to me. I follow(ed) some good people and had some interesting interactions but it seems that suddenly most of them have moved to bluesky in the past week.

I stopped posting earlier in the year and haven't actually looked at it for months - just felt an utter Bot Farm.

It'd be good for no public sector organisation to use it too.

I got a  Twitter account in 2020 or 2021, but in the end I never did anything with it. I still have it because occasionally there's a link to a Twitter thread here or somewhere else that looks interesting and I gather that it's easier to see threads if you're logged in.

Me. It's been alright so far - news, people I follow, gig updates etc. And the chat about "ooooh, algorithm gonna get you" is pretty flaky tbh: the only time I've seen really odd or BS stuff is when I've spent ages on it in one day and have exhausted the semi-sensible suggestions of stuff relevant to me. Then it started serving up some stuff I really wasn't on board with, which was a good sign to put the phone down for a while.

Honestly, I value what it does in highlighting stuff (news stories, the latest David Squires cartoon) I wouldn't otherwise see; but I've no energy to go through the process of transferring to some other social network. I probably will at some point I guess.

As for the Graun, that was hilarious - even the wording of "here's why we're no longer posting on X" (posted on X). Performative nonsense

Nope, I never posted on it and since Musk's takeover just got fed up of his using it basically @everyone daily.

I still use it because I think living in your own bubble of people who only think like you is counter-productive.

Maybe, but from my experience using Twitter like that would be like punching yourself in the face repeatedly and expecting it to make you a faster bike rider because it hurts about the same as training.

the-muffin-manFull Member
I still use it because I think living in your own bubble of people who only think like you is counter-productive.

Which is a good stance you've taken. Unfortunately you don't really see the moderate version of people who think in different ways, you mostly see the rampant nutjobs instead

FWIW, I have an account that I use a couple of times a week as there is still a load of really interesting content. Just a shame it's surrounded by so much garbage

it used to be great and I could use it to discover new stuff but now its pretty tough.  I don't want to just restrict myself to people I follow as I want to try and discover a wider range of news and views but the rest is so toxic and full of people who appear to just enjoy trolling others.  There probably is good stuff there but it is so painful to trawl through I quit a few months ago.

Unfortunately you don’t really see the moderate version of people who think in different ways, you mostly see the rampant nutjobs instead

I use other media for that - X isn't my only source of information. I rarely engage with posts though so I don't get drawn in.

I even buy a physical copy of the Guardian on a Saturday! 🙂

I even buy a physical copy of the Guardian on a Saturday! ?

Oh god, what's this STW algorithm?! I don't want weirdos in my feed!! 😉

I really only signed up to Twitter did to the political threads linking to it from here (so you lot are bloody responsible really! 😉 ) but I rarely go on it now. It's horrid.

As it was all about the political sude of things for me, I found it relentlessly negative and of course I'm sure that people with the polar opposite of my political views would say the same. That's how it works. It feeds you antagonism yet it's strangely... Moreish!

But... Musk is nasty and dangerous enough that although I'm happy-ish to buy from Amazon and be a hypocrite, even I have to think about being in anyway beholding to Musk.

Didn't use it much, just to check on bands - releases/tours etc. Was ok for that a few years ago. Was useful for things like "Why do you only ship the album to the US" reply: "We'll ship to the UK for you for free" "Thanks!" (true story 🙂 ) ..  Last time I logged on I couldn't see my stuff for all the ads and crap, so not been on there for about 6 months.

I've never really understood the 'cesspit' stuff. I never really get much of that, and it hasn't got any worse since the X takeover. I follow a few people and organisations that I'm interested in, and occasionally search other stuff - it hasn't changed much since I began using it.

What do others do differently that leads to them being swamped with hostile comments and right-wing bile?

It’s bit of a cesspit of blue tick ****ers, bots, porn etc now. It’s a shame. It really was a bit of a town square. I felt a decline before Musk took over, but since then, it’s gone downhill rapidly. I’m waiting to see a tipping point for what will take its place. Feels like it might be Bluesky?

I use Instagram to follow band news - I find you don't get so much dross on there and it's easy to ignore peoples comments.

The only i ever used it in the past was as a direct way to contact various utilities and Ryanair so ask where my luggage had gone this week.

I ditched Twitter shortly after he sacked all the engineers via email. I didn't really want to support a company that behaved to it's staff so poorly, so I deleted my account as number of users means it can sell advertising. At first, I found it slightly annoying not having an account as so many other things in the world were still using it, but it's becoming less and less of an issue as more people ditch it and companies realising that they need to find alternatives. Well done on the Guardian for catching up.

What do others do differently that leads to them being swamped with hostile comments and right-wing bile?

Is it that they're engaging with (replying etc) stuff they don't like? Saying "this is all wrong, here's why" is like peeing into the wind, but probably more importantly it means you keep being served more stuff like it

easily

What do others do differently that leads to them being swamped with hostile comments and right-wing bile?

Oh, I'm totally responsible for that aspect. Going on it for the politics AND being inclined to reply and get info conversations with people. That's on me.

As that's all I used it for though, it was just better for me to just bin it.lol

Plenty of arguing to be had on the politics threads on here if I was so inclined. That said, I don't really get into that on here. I "know" the people and honestly don't want to be a dick if I can help it.

Now someones going to come along and say I do. 😉

Edit: Yeah, nicko74 has it basically.

I use it to complain to Sainsbury's about their rotten produce.

Clearly someone uses ****ter/X here, based on the posts to a news story that is little more than a link to a tweet.
Was going to post that to the "things that disproportionately cheese me off" thread.
Would be nice if people either add some words to tell us what the story is to save us having to click on the link, or post a link to a reputable media outlet that has the headline in the URL.

I deleted my account basically the day after Musk hinted he was thinking about buying it.

I'd scrap Farcebook too if I could. 99.9% of my content is removed from there. Think I looged in teice so far this year.

Use Mastodon more, where it's useful to follow a select few, but tbf that's because they're/we're mostly all in the same demographic with privacy concerns, etc. and mostly all open-source advocates.

I use it a little bit, but it's mainly for AnonOpin and FessHole.

I’d scrap Farcebook too if I could. 99.9% of my content is removed from there. Think I looged in teice so far this year.

Facebook, despite being an awful app in terms of adds and pointless crap inserted into your feed, is probably the only one I'd be stumped without.  There's umpteen groups which function like STW but for even more niche hobbies, there's all the local clubs (cycling, classic cars, motorbikes, sailing, etc.

All that could mostly transfer to WhatsApp groups, but Facebook just makes them easy to find.

I binned ****tter at least 6 months ago as it was all very toxic. I haven't missed it one jot.

What do others do differently that leads to them being swamped with hostile comments and right-wing bile

It wasn't right-wing bile I saw, most of the bands and artists I followed were retweeting political stuff that I agreed with, but that's not what I was following them on Twitter for!

I mostly use it to follow a few trusted info sources or people whose views I'm interested in.  I never post, only use the following tab and rarely look at comments on posts, so I mostly avoid seeing the worst of it.  I could live without it though and I do feel guilty about supporting anything Musk has his grubby mitts on.  I'm often teetering on the brink of binning it for that reason, but balancing that against a need to stay informed about stuff I've chosen to take an interest in.

I'm still using it. Haven't seen any difference in content, but then I only use the Following tab.

If Bluesky hits a certain level of ubiquity I’ll likely ditch Twitter and just ignore Threads.

that's where I am at the mo, Bluesky seems better for worky network stuff, Threads ok for bike/outdoors stuff, X is dead.

I’m still using it. Haven’t seen any difference in content, but then I only use the Following tab.

This is the way...

Still have it but not used it as such for well over a year, I tried to my account when Musk the bastion of free speech except against anything he opposes took over.

Staying within the safety of my Following tab it's only the quantity of adds that drives me mad on X. Pre-Musk I avoided them totally by using a 3rd party app - but he quickly killed that option.

Now that Bluesky seems to be emerging as the lead alternative I'll probably give it a go. Threads didn't really appeal as Meta isn't exactly a company that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, and when I did play with it, it seemed you can't avoid people you don't follow from appearing in your feed.

I stopped looking but then started checking in during the election to see what was going on, and then got completely addicted to the algorithms again. It's a collection of car crashes condensed into digestible short stories that are hard to stop looking at.

Like a pack of Pringles, you know it's bad for you, but once open you can't close it until you've reached the bottom.

Complete abstinence is the only solution.

Complete abstinence is the only solution.

Nope

Follow a number of record stores, bands, dj’s, Gaza stuff, certain news outlets, science stuff/folk, journalists. audio science/music production, not subjective hifi bollox, few environment Al activists, and perhaps the best on Twitter: WeRateDogs

A max of 100 follows, I just read, I have a few followers but I don’t know why?, I never post, - unless it’s to call out Israeli idf shills/or similar and I only look at following feed so the only time I see vile stuff is if I browse the replies to a post from the likes of Sangita Myska, that’s when I realise there is an untold amount of ****s out there that I’d very happily see tarred and feathered in public with their comments hanging above their heads for all to see.

Gave it up completely after the riots when the barrage of right wing nonsense became unbearable. On Threads now and that seems to be picking up.

X is dead

Folk have repeating that for over a year, and yet ..