So, I have been reading some Twitter lately, and I wonder... Why do people use Twitter???

[DetlefK]

Maybe some 10-20% of the posts there are worth reading, because they inform you about something you didn't know yet. A fact or a joke.

The rest is just toxicity, smug bad-faith arguments and intentional misinformation.
(You know the proverb "Don't read the comments." Twitter is easily a match for the most deranged and toxic comment-sections I have ever seen.)

Nobody posts on Twitter because they want to have an actual debate, an actual conversation, to convince and to be convinced. It's all about screaming whatever you want at strangers, free of consequences. It's about the feeling of power that comes from FORCING random strangers to listen to whatever you want to say.

There is literally no point in using Twitter: It doesn't inform you, and likewise nothing you post on Twitter will convince other people that you are correct. The ONLY possible social use of Twitter, with good-faith debates between opposing viewpoints being made impossible, is for building echo-chambers.

[Irish_Dem]

1. I like the animal videos.

Floods my brain with serotonin and dopamine.

[Peregrine Took]

2. I jump on Twitter several times a day to get the latest poop from my main pundits -Josh Marshall

and David Corn are two of my favorites. I rarely post anything except to a couple of dogs I follow. I love Malcolm and Baby Dog who live in the UK.

Malcolm is a cat and he and Baby Dog get along pretty well...

"Malcy" was hit by a car last month so we've all been nervously following his healing process along with BD and their doting"Mum.

[ret5hd]

3. Let me ask my second cousins in-laws over on Facebook...

I’ll get back to ya on that.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. Interesting, I've had totally the opposite experience.

I've curated a follow list that includes smart, dedicated people who are generous enough to share their knowledge for free. It's given me access to ideas, communities and perspectives I don't have access to in real life -- not an echo chamber at all.

I generally don't follow politicians or big media names or the influencers who were at the White House the other day -- it's more the people who are on the ground getting shit done, and who use Twitter as an organizing tool so other people can learn from their experiences.

[sky_masterson]

5. I like it for the celebrities and fandom

pages. But after tuesday I'm going to change my name to Elon Musk on there and make them ban me as opposed to quitting.
Him telling people to vote Republican was the last straw.

[Faux pas]

6. I

don't do twitter except when someone here posts animal video tweets. Other than that, the whole thing seems like some psychotic troll factory 🏭.

[Elessar Zappa]

7. It is what you make of it.

I don’t see toxic stuff because I mainly follow non-political people.

[ismnotwasm]

8. It's social media.

As is Facebook, instagram, WhatsApp, TikTok, YouTube, Reddit, Discord and a hundred or so other social media platforms.

People use them for entertainment, for business, to connect, to hear and be heard, all with varying degrees of success.

They are all more or less the same. One is not inherently more “moral” than another, amoral is what they are as far as that goes, but the different platforms have various designs better suited for different media.

Twitter can be a sugar rush, sure, but is it worse than a two hour YouTube that deliberately peddles misinformation? Of course not.

Social media is here to stay. No one has to use anything. Savvy use of social media, as we’ve seen, demonstrates how susceptible people are especially when in the areas of bias confirmation

[Claustrum]

15. While I agree with the general point of your comment,

I have to disagree with Whatsapp, reddit and discord with the rest. Facebook, instagram, TikTok, and YouTube have algorithm to send you videos/Tweets you are supposed to like. And the content creators and bad faith actors have ways to manipulate the algorithm so their contents are suggested to more people. Wherein, Whatsapp, reddit, and discords are people or groups you actively seek out and join. They are less invasive than the others.

[ismnotwasm]

21. Yeah probably, don't really have an argument against that

I actually like algorithms because they are fairly easy to manipulate. Reddit for instance, suggests things to me all the time. I kinda think Discord is the most ‘pure’, at least at this point in time.

[Claustrum]

24. Right. I definitely agree with your general point of

your social media experience is what you make of it. But, I have to get extremely careful about what I watch on youtube just so I don't get the right wing nonsense recommended to me. And that usually means I can't click on any political stuff on there. Even if you are watching some CNN or MSNBC clips, some crazy RW BS videos (and a lot of clickbait "so called LW videos" too) would show up after I watch a news clip.

As far as Reddit, that's news to me. I only use it for a few games I play and it never recommended other reddit pages to me.

[budkin]

9. I mostly use it for deal hunting

For videogames and tech.

[Bettie]

10. Bob Cesca, Elie Mystal,

Malcolm Nance, Allison Gill (MuellerSheWrote), and a bunch of others.

I mute most GOP accounts, except for the ones in my state, once they start to annoy me.

[spanone]

11. it surely exposes the toxicity of the politicians in congress and the lies they tell

[malaise]

12. I have never joined Twitter but I getquite a lot of good information

about a number of subjects very quickly because of Twitter.
I have a good tennis friend here on DU and receive some amazing stuff that way.

[Emrys]

13. I would know next to nothing about the Ukraine conflict without Twitter.

What I did know would likely be days old, filtered editorially, of questionable accuracy, and in too great quantity to sift through within a news cycle. Some of the Ukrainian accounts I read regularly are actual people on the ground there (as verified from a number of sources for the best part of a year). Some of them include journalists who can go into greater granular detail than they can in whatever mainstream outlets they have and can update in real time if they want to. Their tweets also give a sense of who they are and what their experiences are like that no ossified, static medium could.

I would have a very warped view of my home country Scotland's politics without Twitter. 99%+ of its media are owned by entities outside Scotland, and all have agendas that mean I have to hold my nose in any search for anything resembling plain facts about the country, its governance and the quest among a significant proportion of its population for independence. It would be easy to feel powerless and isolated in those circumstances. I don't, because I can read selected accounts' output that impresses on me daily that I'm most definitely not alone and shares information I would have great trouble finding elsewhere, or at all.

That's just two examples out of many fields in my own experience.

Thing is, when I first ventured onto Twitter, it was weird and overwhelming. I didn't even have an account at first, so I didn't have access to a timeline or Twitter pals or any of the tools that Twitter uses to bring new users into the fold.

You're stalled at that stage. There's no reason for you to go further if you don't want to. Its no skin off my nose or anybody else's who does use Twitter and finds worth in it on a daily basis. But kindly quit looking down your nose at those of us who do, because it's unnecessarily obnoxious.

This endless succession of threads, usually from people who have little experience of Twitter and no interest at all in learning more because they dismiss it out of hand, seemingly berating those of us who do for our choice among the vast information stream we all have access to nowadays, gets really tired.

Use the media and the internet and these forums however you want to. And let those of us who do find useful information on Twitter on a regular basis and drag it back here to share carry on doing so without the constant timewasting griping.

If it's a post of mine, there'll usually be fair warning that it involves Twitter. Unless DU decides to ban Twitter content from DU, it's not going away.

Probably tl;dr, but you asked a question. There's an answer.

[Caliman73]

14. People use it for all kinds of reasons, good and ill.

A lot of people use it to communicate with family, or follow their favorite celebrities, teams, brands, etc... Some use it to follow news and politics. A lot of people use it to share about themselves (where they are, what they are eating, their opinions, etc..)

The difference between Twitter and older social media (like internet forums) is that internet forums tend to be for long form discussion. People (like me) may write paragraphs when discussing an issue. Twitter, being short form, tends to incentivize engagement with more brash statements, more conflict when we are talking about interaction.

I have stayed away from Twitter and other more recent forms of social media. What has tempted me at times to think about joining, is to Tweet at people like Trump or Marjorie Taylor Greene (negative engagement). I don't follow celebrities or sports. The people I want to talk to I can call, text, or video chat with. I have never thought of myself as "so important" that I needed to broadcast my actions for all to see. Though I guess I feel important enough to put my opinions on DU... so go figure.

People will use tools based on their personality and motivations. The people who own those tools will often exploit aspects of human behavior to try to make money. Ultimately, like most things (TV, books, magazines, traditional internet forums, etc..) social media requires engagement. If you don't engage with it, doesn't necessarily mean you won't hear about it, but it won't become such a major aspect of your life.

[chowder66]

16. I use it to follow news on Ukraine, funny animal videos, to support missing persons especially

POC and Indigenous, I follow lawyers and some politicians, some news personalities and writers, arts and culture, a few friends, genealogy accounts for tips and tricks, hometown and local news. I see what I want to see basically. I've only had a couple of negative comments to something I posted which didn't bother me. Granted I only have a few followers which probably helps a lot. I've blocked a few that looked like bots and phishing scams.

[RKP5637]

17. I'm selective in what I follow and read. Most of the comments I just ignore. Many are garbage. n/t

[Captain Stern]

18. I think your mistake is that you're looking at twitter like it's a debate forum. It's not.

It's just a place where people say what they want to say.

And, you can pick which people you want to listen to. And, you can pick the people you don't want to hear at all.

I don't follow any politics on Twitter at all. I follow people that talk about sports stuff. That' s what I'm interested in on Twitter. That's it.

Twitter does inform me about stuff that's sports related. Nobody will be influenced by anything I post on Twitter, because I don't post anything on Twitter.

[BlackSkimmer]

19. It's junior high school on steroids.

The blue tick thing is so weirdly apt. So you can tell wh the “cool kids” are.

And people eat this up.

[Beautiful Disaster]

20. I pretty much only do twitter for sports and the occasional political takes.

[efhmc]

22. I see lots of people who are working to stop additions and they look to others for help and support.

Although I am not one with those problems, I still respond with some kind words so they know they are not alone and I always hope I helped a bit. But those who really help are those who respond and say they have been through this and have come out the other side.

[zuul]

23. Not true. I mostly follow journalists and Dem politicians.

And people who post funny animal stuff.

I never like any tweet or respond to any tweet. I don’t let anyone follow me.

So I don’t see any of the vitriol. The algorithms don’t show me the hateful posts because I have never engaged with any MAGAts.

So it’s been a pleasant experience for me. I will miss it when I finally delete my account. And I will as soon as TFG guy is reinstated.

Twitter is what you make of it. If you respond to the assholes, Twitter will show you more tweets from the assholes.

[JCMach1]

25. The text version of Instagram. It's for verbal posing/flexing and trolling instead

Of images...

It's NOT for discourse. Mistake to think it is...

[womanofthehills]

26. On Twitter, it's all about who you follow

Favorite authors, artists, journalists, doctors, virologists, friends, leaders of other countries etc. You can get the latest news as it happens. People post videos in real time of hurricanes, etc. I also follow about 20 people with long Covid - ( I don’t have it - but so many do). I follow just to see how they are doing and what treatments they are doing.

It’s fun when an author you really like interacts with you. I want to play with putting NFT’s on Twitter so I follow over 50 NFT artists.

“Do not cede territory in an information war”

Link to tweet

?s=46&t=2ucQimew3-nR-wiobPl9JA

Link to tweet

?s=46&t=2ucQimew3-nR-wiobPl9JA

[msongs]

27. twitter, FB, instagram, one cannot possibly read all the stuff your friends/followers post.

so what's the point of having 5K followers and friends. and they cannot read all yours either for that matter

[48656c6c6f20]

28. Same reason people use smartphones I guess.

Because they want to.

[bbernardini]

29. Free comedy, mostly.

Folks like Patton Oswalt, George Wallace, and Blaine Capatch are giving away top-tier jokes for absolutely nothing.