Journalists - is Twitter actually your community?

It is long past time for journalism to abandon Twitter.

We ourselves have torn down the wall between editorial and business interests if as journalists, our calculation here is not values-based. To wit: “But I have a large following and neither BlueSky or Threads does.” That is the rationalization of a marketer, not a journalist who believes in the SPJ Code of Ethics dictate to “minimize harm.”

Put aside the fact that Threads is far from a perfect replacement, and is disinterested in content it deems “political” — with “political” defined as anything advertisers dislike.

Musk and Twitter are in an entirely different class when it comes to the intentional and ongoing abuse of power. He has brewed a toxic environment on the platform, and is now further emboldened to shut down accounts and direct troll armies at anyone who questions his increasingly questionable activities. And among other things - do you really think DMs are still private?

But even to accept the marketer‘s view of it, I have a few questions for the fourth estate:

Are your followers on Twitter actually your readers? Are they clicking the link or just reading a headline and arguing in the replies? Does their existence and engagement lead to any benefits for either your publication or your community beyond self-promotion?

And, to the extent you do have actual readers on Twitter who benefit from discovering and reading your journalism - how many are still there to some degree because you still are?

It has been two years and it is either time to rebuild a presence on Threads or BlueSky or the Fediverse - or it is time to admit the age of social media died when Elon walked into Twitter HQ with a bathroom sink.

Twitter was a mess before Elon. He has lost billions turning it into a Nazi bar, and he keeps digging sub basements.

Run away now before it gets worse. Try and bring your community with you. But at least start to invest your time in the next thing - wherever or whatever that is.