12.16.20
Gemini version available ♊︎Video: Twitter is Just Social Control Media
Summary: Twitter is shutting down as a Web site; the video above explains some of the many issues associated with the way the site works in 2020 (it has changed a lot over the years, profoundly benefiting surveillance capitalists at users’ expense)
Today Twitter is supposed not to work as a Web site anymore; they said that would end after December 15th, but now they say after December 16th. They can’t make up their minds, can they? See the latest screenshot (above). It contradicts what the site has said for over a month. Either way, the site has quickly become — however gradually — another Facebook. Almost all the reasons for quitting Facebook are now equally applicable to those wishing to quit Twitter.
“It’s an appalling source for actual news rather than noise filtered for somebody else’s agenda.”Earlier this week I wrote about quitting Twitter (the account becomes only a bot) for being a bunch of noise and surveillance that interferes with communication instead of facilitating it. It’s becoming hostile towards older devices, it’s harvesting a lot of data (like people’s phone numbers, ID documents, date of birth and so on as verification prerequisite), and it helps facilitate some of the very worst aspects in society. It’s not social media but antisocial pseudo-media or social control media (when it comes to censorship). It’s an appalling source for actual news rather than noise filtered for somebody else’s agenda.
This video was done unscripted in one (first) take and it was mostly a rant about what Twitter had become. It’s hardly an exhaustive list of all the issues. A lot of companies still believe that they need “Twitter presence” even though it can prove to be a liability, not an asset. How often has the EPO had PR gaffes in Twitter? It’s hardly surprising that neither Benoît Battistelli nor António Campinos chose to have accounts there. A few high-level EPO officials have Twitter accounts and those can cause embarrassment in exchange for a relatively small audience.
The benefits associated with Twitter activity have long been outweighed by the harms, both on a societal (collective) basis and personal level. It’s probably fair to say that the Twitter “attention economy” and the harvesting of minds (data-mining ‘screen time’) is only overshadowed by Facebook’s. Prior to the death of Google Plus (Google+) several other Google attempts at social control media were similarly scuttled. Maybe Google realised it was just a passing fad. █
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neverreboot said,
December 17, 2020 at 2:30 am
I’m so glad I never started using Twitter. I’ve heard of HR departments that will query data brokers and use your Twitter, Facebook and other social media to generate a score about the type of person you are. Of course this data is used to determine if you will be a loyal employee.
The whole situation is toxic. It’s unfortunate that social media has become this way.