A Panic Attack in 280 Characters or Less
Some people are freaking about Elon Musk buying Twitter
Twitter is an online news and social networking site where people communicate in short messages called tweets. Tweeting is posting short messages for anyone who follows you on Twitter, with the hope that your words are useful and interesting to someone in your audience. Some people use Twitter to discover interesting people and companies online, opting to follow their tweets. "What Is Twitter?" Lifewire, August 29, 2021
People are freaking out over this?
Ever since the Twitter board accepted Elon Musk’s offer to buy the social media platform, some people have been going crazy. Freedom of speech and the squelching of hate speech is at stake here, they cry, in 280-character tweets. Some longtime Twitter users threatened to bail and take their tweets elsewhere if Musk took over; others swore to fight until the end for the sake of being able to write a blurb of copy without feeling threatened.
Stay the course, George. I’m not sure anyone was going to stifle your speech, especially since you are a beloved actor and activist, and one of Twitter’s most popular people, but it’s good to know you’re willing to fight until the end for whatever you fear may be coming down the pike.
Other celebrity activists shuddered to think that the new ownership might reinstate banned accounts. Of major concern was that the 45th President of the United States would be back, noshing on fast-food cheeseburgers while churning out volumes of “covfefe.”
Rob, you can block him. Plenty of people have.
Some seemed to be feverishly typing as they waited for Musk’s Twitter police to nab them for speaking their minds.
Was she tweeting from a bunker, or maybe a safe house?
And some simply took things too far:
Well, that was dramatic.
On the other side of the coin, a sizeable number of people applauded the Musk deal. Some quickly hailed him as a hero who would bring the “social” back into social media:
Cool graphic, by the way.
Musk hadn’t even put his nameplate on his office door, but some could already taste their newfound freedom:
Imagine 97,000 people waiting who knows how long to hit the “follow” button!
And, again, some got carried away:
He hasn’t even officially bought the company yet, but okay.
It’s fun to scroll through Twitter for different reactions to the Musk deal, ranging from hysteria to humor and from outrage to adulation. What’s been missing from this conversation is something fundamental yet overlooked in our high-tech society:
We are putting too much importance on social media platforms.
Yes, Twitter, Facebook and the like have changed the way we communicate. They’ve pulled us closer together as humans in a lot of ways. News sources and influential people use social media to share breaking information and encourage discussions.
If you’ve ever gotten caught up in a Twitter scuffle, though, you know it’s gotten out of control. There you are, fighting with someone you’ve never met because you are on opposite sides of a hot-button topic. These strangers suddenly feel emboldened to define you. They’re completely wrong, of course, but it doesn’t matter because momentum is building, and, oh look, others agree with that person and they are ready to hurl insults, too.
Good luck defending yourself. You’re surrounded. And so it’s only natural that you throw out some insults, too, because what else are you going to do in 280 characters?
What’s funny about Twitter is that it isn’t very social at all. Oh, it was meant to be. Back in the early days, when there weren’t a lot of people on the platform, you could strike up a good conversation with someone you never met and find common ground. Somewhere along the way, a lot of know-it-alls jumped on Twitter, and they decided that anyone who didn’t think as they did was the enemy. People felt they could be controversial, brash and downright insulting. And, of course, everything became political.
Not everyone is like that on Twitter. You can still find lots of nice people who want to share personal and professional stories. And Twitter is always a good place to learn about breaking news stories in real-time. The problem is that you have to wade through a lot of negativity, anger and meanness to get to the good stuff.
The average person has friends, colleagues and family members with varying beliefs. To keep things cordial and sane in conversations, you typically do one of two things: avoid controversial topics that lead to disagreements or encourage a civil and respectful dialogue so you can understand each other’s opinions.
The difference is that you know these people. When you talk to them, you see not just their opinion on a matter but who they are as human beings. You like these people (for the most part), and you’re not going to let differing views on a single topic spoil a perfectly good connection. On Twitter, the goal isn’t to make or keep friends; it’s to shout your opinion and drown out the opposition.
Somewhere along the way, Twitter (and Facebook, etc.) started to take itself too seriously. After a while, it wasn’t just a media platform; it was a world of its own, and that world was run by gods who controlled what could and could not be said. If you were controversial in a way that the gods deemed acceptable, you stayed; if you offered controversy that didn’t fit the mold, you were out. Tweets could be used against people, forcing them to issue apologies and sometimes wrecking their careers. The gods banned hate speech but okayed insults and smears. The Twitter gods simply had too much power.
Now, Elon Musk is the new Twitter god. Is he going to rule with a light touch, allowing members to tweet what they want? Is he going to create a new definition of hate speech? Will he - gasp! - let the 45th President of the United States back on? It’s way too early to know, so let’s hold off on the panic attacks.
Instead of putting so much emphasis on a platform that “is used to discover interesting people and companies online,” let’s all invite a friend or colleague for coffee and have a real conversation. Maybe by the time we’re back, Twitter will have straightened itself out.