I think Twitter is here to stay. I’m sure some of the more extreme venues will get more popular, briefly, but everything at Twitter will be back to normal before you know it. Seems like many unwise moves have been taken, but you don’t spend 44 billion dollars with the intent of losing it all.
1 Like
Well, he would still have $200B if he lost his Twitter investment. What the heck do you do with that kind of money!?! Hard to get your head around it.
3 Likes
Seriously, that’s a lot of buckage. But I don’t think you get to that point by just throwing it all away. I think Twitter will be fine.
If you are trying Mastodon, using the Metatext app makes the experience easier & more familiar.
If you want to try Post, the hierarchy of how they are on-boarding new people is (quoting from their email):
- US, English (we do not have internationalization yet)
- That you spent the time telling us about yourself (i.e. you made the effort)
- Date you applied
- Number of referrals you generated
- Diversity - trying to make sure we have different genders, races, occupations, political leanings etc
- Shortcut for comedians (we can all use a sense of humor these days)
Total Waitlist: 125,000
Activated users: 3,500
1 Like
This is super interesting and helpful and thought provoking - thank you.
Again, we all have our lanes and one thing I don’t love about Instagram (for professional purposes) is that it requires - for the most part - a picture or a descriptive picture. Just text won’t do. Time and place, right?
I have a family member who is a journalist and while he has backed a bit away from Twitter the last year + just for sanity, he has started Mastodon and Post accounts (apparently one of the lucky 3500!)
All this info is helpful and interesting!
Your post is kind of interesting to me since we work in the same general area.
Twitter is used by various departments to post general interest stories.
However, most of the scientists that I know don’t spend time posting on twitter. I guess there is a large differences in usage between fields. I should say that there is one I know that does regularly post. But more often than not his posts are pictures of animals on his lawn.
Staying on Twitter for now. Also in academic research and I’ve learned about grants opportunities, calls for papers in special issues, and employment opportunities for grad students. Not planning on moving to Mastodon at this time, but I came late to Twitter.
1 Like
My husband is a cancer biologist and has never posted on Twitter. The PR department at his med school has lately been encouraging people to use social media, but they think it’s a waste of their time.
I’m an architect and artist. I use Instagram to post and look at pictures. I also use Facebook, but rarely as a professional, other architects I know post every single new project when it’s complete. I have to admit I just don’t care - I don’t want to grow my single person firm and I have more work than I want.
For me Twitter is mostly a place to read political opinion and I would prefer one that isn’t completely an echo chamber.
2 Likes
I’ve never had a Twitter account…so I won’t be looking for an alternative.
2 Likes
A couple weeks out, and for those of you who do/did use Twitter do you find yourself attaching to any of the alternatives?
There has been no change to my Twitter feed. I see no need to go anywhere else.
I’m still with Twitter. Still on waitlist for the Post. And have started following some on IG (who I didn’t want to miss if they left Twitter).
So far my feed has been pretty much the same, too, just fewer new posts.
I’m seeing long followed people leave or basically “mute” or just say “I’m disappearing” daily.
And if not leaving at least exploring new avenues
I’ve really enjoyed Mastodon, though it’s a more “personable” experience than Twitter was. (Meaning: I find Twitter to be full of a lot of “dunks” and hot takes, or corporations trying to be relatable. Mastodon is much more “I made a thing and am sharing it” or “here’s what I’m up to this afternoon”, which is more of what Twitter used to be like.)
2 Likes
I’m on the waitlist for Post. I will probably be there forever - they ask you to tell them about yourself and I am frankly pretty dull!
ha! Me too!! Hoping I get off the waitlist before all my Twitter follows have left!! So far most of the ones I pay closest attention to say they are staying (for now.)
1 Like
I am off the Post waitlist! Starting to follow some people I don’t want to lose connection to if Twitter goes down, but otherwise not much going on over there yet. Format is not all that different than Twitter. Happy to have an alternative should Twitter fully tank (or there is a mass exodus.)
1 Like
I did too, over the weekend. I was briefly excited that I might be cool but then I read the part where they basically let everyone in! Nice to be part of something new and developing.
1 Like
South Park has already thought of the Twitter alternative back in 2013, promoted back in it’s 17th season premiere episode.
The main character, Cartman, acquires a new device, which is being advertised on TV by Alec Baldwin. The device broadcasts a user’s thoughts audibly and sends them directly to the Internet without the use of a phone.
The name of the device and service rhymes with Twitter. 
So back to Twitter Alternatives… 
2 Likes