Come back Twitter/X, all is forgiven
14 October 2026
Since its acquisition by Elon Musk in 2022, Twitter/X has been considered a neighbourhood on the wrong side of the tracks. But not any more. Things have changed. Now it’s the place to be. Because, among other things, the platform is “cheerful” and “inclusive”. So say some people.
But the question is vexed, the matter of Twitter/X being either in, or out of, favour. Especially for long time users, people there since the platform’s inception in 2006. I doubt many of them think all that highly of the present owner. Or the direction the platform has gone.
A change of management, and outlook, was not something the majority of these early adaptors wanted, nor asked for. They were just picked up, and carried along with it. People who spent years cultivating profile, and in some cases, large followings. For them, the prospect of having to migrate somewhere else, leave behind the most of their followers, and start again, was daunting.
Best then to keep calm and carry on. Twitter/X, on the whole, may not be “cheerful” or “inclusive”, but it is vast. It is possible to carve out corners free of hate speech and warped political ideologies. And that might be ok for some people whose livelihoods depend on their Twitter/X followings. Provided they are able to stay in their own lanes. Even if that sounds like being in a gilded cage.
But the warnings that something might go wrong were there from the beginning.
Just about everyone I once knew on Twitter/X, started out as a blogger. At the time, Twitter/X, and other social networks, were seen as an “outpost” for someone’s blog. A small something on the side. They were a convenient, fun even, way for a blogger to network, spread the word, and make friends, but all roads led back to their website, which was sacrosanct.
Because, even twenty years ago, people knew they were merely occupying a room in someone else’s house. The concern then though was the house rules might change without notice. Or we might wake up one morning and find the property had been demolished, was gone.
No problem though, our blogs and websites were still there. But Twitter/X was too convenient, too fun, too easy. The time had come to go “all in” with the platform, and forget about blogs.
Of course, no saw what happened to Twitter/X, coming. Even that wouldn’t have mattered though, had those former bloggers not become so dependent on the platform. If they had kept their websites, and concentrated their online presence in a space they had control and ownership of.
But that’s moot point. Discussion isn’t about websites. It’s about which social media platform is not as bad as the others. Threads is dross. Mastodon is fringe. Bluesky is in decline. But Twitter is ok. No one’s saying social media is good, is the answer, is the way forward. They’re only saying it’s tolerable.
If that doesn’t say anything about the state of the world today, what does?
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current affairs, politics, social media, social networks, Twitter