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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Why Twitter’s Dying |
| 2015-10-20 |
| BLUF: Right Wing extremists, that would be I, are ruining the web for everyone. from TFA: But the troubling fact is this. We have created an abusive society. We have normalized, regularized, and routinized abuse. We are abused at work, by the very rules, norms, and expectations of our jobs, at which we are merely “human resources”, to be utilized, allocated, depleted. We are abused at play, by industries that seek to prey on our innocence and literally “target” our human weaknessses. The only industry that preys on our weaknesses is government and the courts system. And now we are abused at arm’s length, through the lightwaves, by people we will never meet, for things we have barely even said. We live in a society where school shootings are the rule, not the exception, where more people will have taken antidepressants than not…and now one where nearly everyone will have been abused on the web…for a random, off-hand, throwaway comment, an idle thought, something trivial, unremarkable, meaningless. And the left has used that very system to win three elections, 2006, 2008 and 2012 This is an age of stagnation. Of broken dreams and thwarted expectations. What is stagnating is not just “the economy” — but us. Our possibilities and potential, the lives that we should be living. That is what is creating a great cycle of violence. Stagnation is abuse. And we are its victims. We have been cheated not just of our savings, retirements, jobs, social contracts — but of what all those free us to be: ourselves. But we are also, in our anger and despair, its enforcers. Endlessly, at least on the social web, picking on, bullying, squabbling with, decrying, outraged at, one another…for nothing that means anything at all. The abused become the abusers. That is the great megatrend which the social web is part of: the abusive society, a great stagnation cresting into a wave of anger. Do you think I overstate my case? Then step back for a moment and consider the rise of right-wing extremist parties across the globe. Boo! It is fuelled by the resentment and frustration of stagnation. And that anger and frustration, whether it is perpetual outrage, or the passive aggression of bitter irony, is perhaps today’s defining culture feature. We abuse one another, having been abused ourselves. Speak for yourself, Sparky. The author is a psychologist by trade and a "consultant". |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #7 Twitter dying? Since when, as you wouldn't notice it from how much the Local Kids or Young Adults are doing it here on Guam??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2015-10-20 23:40 |
| #6 The only people that get enough Twitter followers to count are celebs and they have to post constantly or lose those followers. Every post risks ticking off a large number of fans. So yes, Twitter is dying. Then again I don't think it ever made money so perhaps it was never actually alive. Facebook could duplicate the functionality in an afternoon if they chose to. If Twitter dies I suspect Facebook will (assuming they don't buy them out for the name). |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2015-10-20 10:13 |
| #5 School shootings are "the rule"? What fantasy world does this idiot live in? They're unusual events, incredibly rare WHICH IS WHY THEY'RE NEWSWORTHY. I swear, some people live the fallacy of the vivid exception. |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2015-10-20 08:57 |
| #4 Touche Except, open source intel and the ability for others to provide solutions and critical analysis. I found their assesments far more realistic than what the Administration follows. But again, Everything in Life is more realistic than what this Administration follows. What I see is exceptional advise offered for free versus the leviathan which is too busy with infighting. Twitter has been an ideal format for it. Problem is, we have to see the best answers while the Administration follows the wrong paths. |
| Posted by: newc 2015-10-20 02:17 |
| #3 Everyone is moving to the anonymous, unmonitored, encrypted darknet for messaging with their close associates. |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2015-10-20 01:56 |
| #2 One thing I failed to mention: In the 30 years I have spent sourcing on the internet, most of the web pages I read are on twitter as well as editors and contributing writers. The rest I can pick up thru RSS using newsblur - which is the best aggregator on the internet hands down. The rest, like Rantburg, I must now check manually. It saves much time and it is always better to watch the news scroll in front of you instead of spending all day surfing web pages. Rant on! |
| Posted by: newc 2015-10-20 00:54 |
| #1 Twitter is not really that much in trouble. Newsies will use it for tweetdeck which is a must if you really want to track events. Though I do agree that 2011 was peak time for Twitter. My summation is the information is so prevalent and depressing that many either hung up or stopped tweeting as much. Many accounts I follow are still around occasionally, but others have been chased off by the fascist liberals like the guy that wrote this garbage. Fact is, "liberals" do not like twitter because there truly is freedom of speech... most of the time. Unless you are Charles C Johnson or another target with many followers. Revolutions have used twitter because of it's resilience to blocking. It is a fantastic tool. I guess people like me turn others off on twitter - in fact, I Am sure of it. But they always have the choice to not follow. I like twitter and plan to keep it around for a long time. |
| Posted by: newc 2015-10-20 00:47 |