I’m going to start this post out by saying…I’m not a fan of Elon Musk. I’m not a complete hater–the man has done some great things. He’s also done some very questionable things. He’s erratic, arrogant, occasionally (read: often) childish, and simultaneously brilliant, visionary, and unapologetic. These are all things to which I can relate having been labelled a “gifted” kid and now dealing with that along with my ADHD. I get it, even if I don’t always like it.
But I can honestly say that he wasn’t the last straw that caused me to leave Twitter last year. For every good interaction, I got a lot of toxic interaction. Just like any sports supporter base, you have your knowledgable and respectful supporters, then you have the vocal minority of trolls that exist just to make your life hell (usually because theirs is on some level). The ads, bots, disinformation, and general unpleasantness of the service put me along the road to leaving long before Elon got his hands on it. Right or wrong, sometimes you have to suffer the slings and arrows to find the community you seek.
What I wasn’t willing to put up with was the additional investment group coming from a certain Middle Eastern country that has a history of suppressing certain rights of their people and maybe being responsible for the death of a journalist or two. Don’t get me wrong here–I’m not anti-Arab nor anti-Middle East. I’m against a government’s policies and relations with their people.
There are also the privacy concerns. Where ones data, pictures, and other things go are of great concern to me, especially having been in the service and being constantly warned about such things. It’s not that I trust American companies all that much, but I trust certain state-sponsored investments even less.
All that combined is why I left my personal Twitter for Mastodon last year.
Now to the point. This isn’t some diatribe about how Twitter is evil and everyone should leave, but a discussion of why I took the decision to return to Twitter today as @rbpenguinmedia. It was not a decision I made lightly, but it has applicability, especially as we talk about support and philosophy.
Ultimately, I returned to Twitter because of the engagement and connection. As I continue this project, it became increasingly apparent to me that despite the bad press and the problems with Twitter, there is still a ton going on there. News, team engagements, supporters and supporters groups, all of these entities and organizations have stayed on Twitter for whatever reason (probably because the content they are looking for is there–similar to me). It’s easier to connect and contact people where they are, and unfortunately, that’s where they are.
This is similar to the philosophical discussion you might have when your team’s owner does something that you don’t like. Does my support of the team mean that I agree with their politics? Does the money they make off my merch and concessions contribute to something I’m ok with? There are varying levels and shades of gray here, and that’s the problem with any of these discussions. What can you deal with to be where you want (or need) to be? Some things will be straight deal breakers, some things won’t.
At the end of it all, I can deal with a little bit of Elon’s asshattery and the other investors’ shady relationship with privacy. For the RBP Media accounts, at least. You won’t see a blue check coming, and I will mitigate my personal privacy. But if this project is going to find its full potential, I have to go where the stories are. For now, that means Twitter.
Who knows? Maybe we can make a small part of it better. I’ll see you there.
Ranting Blue Penguin Media 