Threads verse Twitter.

When Elon took over Twitter it felt like we went back to 2016, while being on Threads for the past couple of days has felt like we are back in 2023. 

Are you on Threads? Let's Follow Each Other @Bleace

There is only one reason why I am burnt out from Twitter and that is due to the actions of one man, Elon Musk. He was forced by a court to purchase Twitter on October 23, 2022. And that point is key, I just want everyone to know as it doesn’t get said enough, Elon was forced by a court to go through with the $44 Billion Dollar purchase. He let his ego get the best of him and the CEO of Twitter at the time held him accountable for what he said, one of the few times in Elon Musk’s life that actually happened.

Side Note: I also talk about this in more detail in Episode 25 titled Aligned Values of the Indefatigable Artist Podcast.

For Elon, This pattern of finally being held accountable has continued. He faces numerous lawsuits, one of which is about insider trading, when he changed the Twitter logo to the Doge logo then sold $124 million dollars worth of Doge. He used his platform to pump and dump his bags on his followers. But that is all for the courts to decide and I will be watching those cases closely.

What I want to focus on here, is values. Values and Respect for others. What he has done since taking over is to constantly disrespect people. For starters, how does this man have all of this time to tweet this many shit posts? And to troll people?

The last straw for me, was this stunt with the limiting of views and causing the app to once again crash. He implemented a change that inherently made the app unusable and even when it did come back, drastically changed everything, especially for people who aren’t paying his ridiculous $8 a month verification. To not only see that, but to then see him troll these changes by saying people are addicted and need to go outside or whatever, was the biggest fuck you to everyone who used the app.

Using these apps for artists is how we get to show our work and connect with others, art is all about connection. Leading up to his takeover, I felt like I had finally found a social media app that I could vibe with. Twitter Spaces changed the game, I even stated that it was the single greatest update to any social media app ever. It nearly made Clubhouse – which I never used – almost obsolete within a month or 2. I went from barely using twitter with 46 followers, to using Twitter almost exclusively and grew exponentially and in a way I never had on social media.

A note about me, I was a late adapter to social media. I was a hipster, I thought it was all stupid, I only used Facebook to stay in touch with family and friends back home after I left to Florida when I was 18. But that was it. I didn’t take YouTube Seriously – to my own detriment. But I was just living in real time, I didn’t take any of it seriously. I don’t think I had an Instagram until 2013 and even then barely used it. Eventually deleted it.

The point I am trying to make is that I was off social media for the most part. Before my current Twitter Profile, I had another one, again barely used it and really only created it so that I could see Trending News Stories and stuff for politics and sports. That was it, I was barely tweeting. I even deleted that profile eventually.

Then when I got into streaming on Twitch, December 31, 2020, I created a Twitter account the following month in January 7, 2022 I created the account that I have now to tweet out when I was going live and to connect with other streamers, it wasn’t until October, 2021, when Twitter spaces started and then I started to use Twitter more frequently. Twitter spaces changed the game for me, I was able to connect with people unlike any other time in my life. I was putting out energy and finding others on a similar wavelength. Hearing their voices and their ability to hear mine, share ideas, was unlike any other social media experience I have ever had.

I will always look back at that time and smile and be grateful it happened.

Fast forward to a year later. October, 2022, Elon Musk decides to buy Twitter. When the rumors started, I was screaming NOOO! 

When Elon took over, it was like we were going back in time. It felt like 2016 all over again. These angry white men who were banned from the platform and many rightfully so as they knowingly spread misinformation and hate speech towards others. And I say knowingly spread misinformation, as sometimes people may share something they take to be true but don’t know any better.

I tweeted how my values do not align with what was happening on the platform on numerous levels.

I wrote, I don’t philosophically align with what is happening to this application. It’s bringing me back to what I grew up witnessing in Michigan. Watching ignorant capitalists come in and gut a company, completely destroying cities and towns without any remorse.

Elon taking over the platform not only brought me back to the feeling in 2016, but to seeing the degradation of Detroit, again, selfish greed, closing all of those factories to move them to another country where they can further exploit workers at a fraction of the cost.

This cult of Elon is just a part of that and has enabled him to go by unscathed, he always has his simp army to defend him. But now, I do think that is changing with his own Ego being the main culprit. 

He fired 80% over that, of all Twitter employees and it looks like Zuckerberg was there to hire them all and to put this new app out.

It’s so Shakespearean to see. Poetic. The downfall of a tyrant. And you see the temper tantrum he is having by this threat of a lawsuit.

I am sure Zuck is laughing at that, saying bring it on!

Threatening a lawsuit, not actually filing one, threatening to file one, what a sore loser. His ego is so large, he can’t handle it. Look how his recent interviews have been, he can’t stand to be openly questioned like that, just staring off into space for however long, getting visibly upset. Where have we seen this type of behavior??? Hmm… and it’s funny how the same people who support one man, support the other. Interesting how this kind of chauvinistic behavior just constantly gets support from the same group.

So knowing that Threads was coming out, I stopped Tweeting. It wasn’t because of one action, but a series of actions that lead up to this moment. And there is one singular person to blame for all of this, as I don’t dislike Twitter or the platform or any of the people I have been connecting with on there for the past couple of years. I actually miss those great spaces we shared together. This is due to one man’s selfishly greedy actions and his blatant disregard for others. to drastically worsen the app and to troll afterwards, was the final straw for me, that was the coup de grace. 

Using these social media apps should spark joy. That simple, they should spark joy for the user and be conscious of the fact that it has had adverse effects especially on the youth and weakest among us, causing self harm and suicide at alarming rates. We can’t put our heads in the sand about these evidence-based facts, we have to address them. It is my newfound goal in life to raise emotional intelligence and to use my art and platform to spread that energy to others. 

I now see Tweeting as supporting the behavior of the person running it, and as I have tweeted since the day he took over, I do not support his actions, and now that we finally have another platform to connect on, I would rather use that. 

Now, I must say, I have written extensively about Facebook’s actions and those taken by Mark Zuckerberg. I do not exactly align with them either, I do think he is an opportunist and had the financial backing to pull this off.

Yet as an Indefatigable Artist living in the 21^st century, if we want to connect with others, if we want to get our energy out into the universe, we have to be on social media. It’s through social media that I have been able to connect with others from all over the world in ways that I would not have otherwise. And for that I am eternally grateful to social media. I am also grateful that social media has allowed me to stay in contact with family and friends over the years, was the reason why I created my Facebook page in 2008 in the first place, to stay connected to people after I left home for the first time after graduating High School.

I am seeing Threads for what it is and nothing more. I have no expectations of it other than to connect with others as much as I can. I do hope it serves the users and listens to them in what they want to see from the platform. I know eventually it will get more monetized, Zuck said after 1 Billion users he will open it up to ads etc. so I am just embracing this moment right now, because it feels so innocent.

I had said, when Elon took over it felt like we went back to 2016, well being on Threads for the past couple of days has felt like we are back in 2023. That we are taking the next step forward in social media. I do hope the add Thread Spaces so we can do voice chats, then I really will have no desire to go on Twitter as least not for a very long time, I won’t be deleting my profile, but I am going to protest in the best way possible and ask others to do the same, as that is the only way Elon will adhere to the demands of the users, growth mindset over a fixed mindset, embrace change as it’s the only constant in this universe. 

I will have more on this including links to my tweet receipts showing that I have been talking about this takeover for the past year and my stance on the issues Elon has caused along the way.  

I hope to connect with more on Threads, give a follow @ Bleace and I will be sure to follow you back. Friendly reminder that it’s free to support artists, a like, a comment, a share, and a follow back really does go a long way. I want to see a change in a mindset on this app, not this Instagram behavior where these fucking influencers are so fucking vein and self absorbed that they won’t follow back, fuck that shit, call that shit out, it’s fucking stupid and doesn’t belong in 2023, support those who support you, you vein fucks, sick of seeing that shit, get off this fucking pedestal, stop staring into the mirror admiring yourself for one fucking second and realize that you would be nothing without your fans, the least you can do is follow them back, that costs you nothing, have your social media manager do it if you don’t have the time. but that is one thing I want to emphasize about Threads, let’s all change our ways, let’s all come at this app different with a different mindset a different way of behaving, something new and improved, and that’s on all of us don’t bring the same shit we are all tired of from these others apps. We have an opportunity here to really make a change and that’s going to be on each and every one of us, not just some super hero that flies in from the sky, no it’s on all of us as individuals. 

Take some self responsibility for your actions.

A new app, we are all starting from scratch, let’s build from that and let each other know that we have each other’s back, follow me I will follow you back, yes it’s like that

Let’s Go Further Together

Can you get with that?

Step up or step aside

Why walk when we can fly

Going further into the sky

Here is my mind

You don’t have to pry

You act that way

Haven’t bothered to ask why?

 

Do there is not try

Do or do not

It’s that simple

We have a window of opportunity

Don’t let it pass us by

We are only as strong as our weakest link

Cooperation over Competition

Why do we feel the need to quantify everything

Do we really put self worth in number of followers?

Go Further

We are more than what our social media profile says we are

One step at a time, take the next best step