seeing some discussion of “why are journalists still on twitter?”
as a journalist who stopped using the service abruptly in november (for obvious reasons), didn’t tweet at all until early march when my climate-media startup launched, and is now unhappily back, a few thoughts:
- twitter actually *is* emptier than it was even last summer, this is apparent if you’re paying attention but like all absences on social media, is more subtle
- on a couple beats — notably politics & finance, but also (alas for me) energy — it unfortunately remains the highest density source of new and relevant information. i wouldn’t have learned about the livestream of precinct-by-precinct wisconsin election results that i tooted yesterday without it. this isn’t only due to journalists but by extensive lock-in from what i would call “audience-participants” — the network of CEOs, spox, academics, investors, and experts who make up the discourse
- that’s partially also due to important journalistic nodes on these beats who are where these network effects become professional cross-pressures — individual journalists who amplify a network of experts and sources who depend on them for exposure, but who themselves depend on that network for readership
- parts of those beats and some of those nodes have made faltering attempts to move to, say, discord, but other platforms have so far wound up duplicating the discursive and conversational elements of twitter without the news-breaking elements.
that migration may be as fueled by adaptation as disgust, though — twitter is far less useful as a discursive platform during big news events than it was last year
- i am back on twitter because it remains the most convenient and free way to stay up on IRA implementation policy details and because it is, alas, where the largest share of my readers (who are interested in *my* work, specifically) are. that i am increasing the value of the overall network with my presence is unfortunate but i want to make sure those readers see my — and my publication’s — journalism. and i have no other way to do that.
@robinsonmeyer I don’t question why journalists and experts keep a Twitter account going— what upsets me is when they don’t cross-post, or only sporadically. That forces their entire audience to be tethered to Twitter to see them, locking us all into a self-fulfilling prophecy. If more of you that are content-providers would just take a minute to cut/paste, you free the rest of us to vote with our feet, while you still retain maximum exposure and leverage.
@AmberWavesofFlame @robinsonmeyer That's where I'm at.. Have to bounce back and forth bcuz so many followers are still on Twitter. Many set in their ways. I was too and then Mastodon set me free!