The End of Twitter?

Last weekend Twitter announced a “rate limit” - limiting the number of tweets people can read, which caused problems for many not being able to see tweets.

(The official statement suggests this was to prevent data scraping - however some speculation that Twitter haven't been paying for their hosting!)

This past week, Tweetdeck users where moved to the “new” version - which I find unusable. They've also announced that from next month, Tweetdeck will only be available to people who pay for Twitter Blue.

I use Twitter a lot for my business - particularly for the software side of things. I created my Twitter profile on the same day I started my business back in 2012!

Does all these changes and problems mean the end for Twitter? What are the alternatives? Here are my own thoughts...

• Over the years there has been speculation that Twitter, Facebook, etc. would be no more. While this feels much different, it's still worth waiting and seeing.
• It's not the first time social media websites have disappeared or had most of their users look at alternatives - anyone remember MySpace, Google+, and Bebo?
• While I'm not against paying for features (I'm a software developer myself after all!) - a lot of the changes are poorly thought out. Having a blue tick no longer means what it means (in fact, you now have a situation where real people have lost their blue ticks, while fake/parody profiles now have them!).
• Changes have been introduced too quickly without any real testing. For those that said that an edit button would be “just a few lines of code” - consider all the extra server capacity required for this, to save edit history, etc. Something I've previously warned about!
• Ultimately, any web-based service - whether that's social media or cloud applications - are not really yours - and can be changed, deleted, etc. at a moments notice - along with any data you may have stored with them.
• Twitter includes an option to download your data - so if you are worried about Twitter disappearing, and want to keep anything, it may be worth using this option to get an archive of your Twitter data. As with anything else, this option is not a substitute for having your own backups of any important photos, etc.
• It's caused problems for some Twitter hours (particularly those who use Tweetdeck for multiple hosts) - however things seem to have calmed down a bit now with the rate limit issue.
• Remember not to rely exclusively on social media for your marketing - as tempting as it may be.

If you create your own software, apps, or digital products - this is a very good example of making sure you test everything, ensure your hosting has the capacity to support what you are doing (and that you pay your bills!), and planning properly.

So what are the alternatives?

• Facebook launched Threads - a Twitter style service. No web version (and I refuse to install countless apps on my phone) so not tried it yet. However, it does feel like throwing all the eggs in one (Meta owned) basket.
• There's still Facebook (including groups), LinkedIn, and various other websites.
• When Twitter's current owner took over, many set up accounts on Mastadon.
• Creating an e-mail newsletter, if you don't already have one.
• If you host a Twitter hour, or want to keep in touch with people, there's the option of creating a discussion/chat forum using a service like Discord.
• There may not be one single solution - and you may wish to use a combination of alternatives.

I plan to continue using Twitter until the very end (or until things get so worse Twitter is unusable), however it's still worth considering what else it out there, and getting ready now just in case.

It's also worth remembering that Twitter is still here - even though people have believed it would completely fall apart since the end of last year. It's a case of waiting and seeing what happens, having alternatives ready, and not panicking.

It's also worth using a few alternatives - again so not all your eggs are in one basket.

What are your own thoughts? Are you still using Twitter? Have you been impacted by all the changes to Twitter?

If I can help your work or business in any way let me know.

I offer a range of software products (including planning, audio and membership), I'm the author of 6 books, and also organise a business book group.

Contact me or visit: libraryplayer.co.uk