I joined the app formerly known as Twitter for the second time in 2019. I had an account there in my early 20’s, but got frustrated with it and deleted it. Eventually I was prevailed upon to join Twitter again to market my work. The last three years have been among the most productive in my life. Which is why I am sad to bid the “bird app” farewell.
As much as I have learned from Twitter, and as many people on that app I have grown to love and appreciate, I have decided that it is no longer helpful to me to have an active presence there. I do not exaggerate when I say it has negatively affected my mental state.
Since the re-brand under Musk, it has also been much more difficult to market my work, which was the whole point of me starting an account there in the first place. Changes in the algorithm have affected which tweets actually get seen, meaning that unless I buy a premium account, my work will only get viewed by a very limited number of people. My clientele there have basically vanished; I haven’t had a client from Twitter in several months.
Twitter has always been a rather negative place; it seems to thrive on vitriol. People saying the most ugly, horrible things to each other on Twitter, with no real consequence. The anonymity of Twitter only encourages this sociopathic behavior (see my article, Common Discourtesy). This has only gotten worse under Musk’s leadership. The algorithm actively favors tweets that have a distinctly nasty tone. I simply will not do that. I will not render hostile opinions just for clicks. I will not prostitute myself like that. Having a near constant stream of the basest, most horrid dialogue on the planet blasted into my retinas has had deleterious effects on my mental health.
What’s worse is the profusion of pornographic content there. If it was bad before, it’s even worse now. Every week, I must block numerous porn accounts attempting to corrupt my soul, causing me no end of frustration.
One of the wisest people I have ever known, Father Samuel Thorpe, stated that it was not good for one to spend too much time online, especially not on Twitter, and he was very right. And so with that in mind, I move my main base of marketing operations here to Substack. I plan to delete my main author/artist account at the end of this month. I bid a fond farewell to all my friends on Twitter/X, and I hope they will come find me on other platforms.
And what are those other platforms?
Well, most of you know I have a facebook page, but I have also started an Instagram account, and I am building a brand on YouTube. I hope to see you all there.