Keynote presented at ANZCA 2023, Wellington, 23 Nov. 2023.

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What Is Lost When Twitter Is Lost?
Reflections on the Impending
Death of a Platform
Axel Bruns
Australian Laureate Fellow
Digital Media Research Centre
Queensland University of Technology
Brisbane, Australia
a.bruns@qut.edu.au
@snurb_dot_info | @snurb@aoir.social | @snurb.bsky.social

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3. Ka mua, ka muri Walking backwards into the future
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What was Twitter?
Why did it fail?
What did Musk do?
What have we lost?
What now?
Overview
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What Was Twitter?

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• A niche platform of outsized importance
• Launched 2006
• Tech community uptake: SXSW 2007
• Phatic connection
• Community networking
• Co-development with userbase
• Breakthrough 2009 (in the US)
What Was Twitter?
https://nyupress.org/9781479811069/twitter/
https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/pi_2016-11-11_social-media-update_0-01/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jackdorsey/182613360
https://www.wired.com/2007/03/twitter-is-ruling-sxsw/
http://pearanalytics.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Twitter-Study-August-2009.pdf
https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/a/2008/how-replies-work-on-twitter-and-how-they-might
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/technology/internet/18oprah.html
https://snurb.info/node/2219

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• Crisis uses and journalistic uptake
• Hashtags for rapid coordination
• 2010 Hudson River emergency landing
• 2011 natural disasters
• 2011 Arab Spring protests
What Was Twitter?
https://twitter.com/chrismessina/status/223115412
https://www.sjpiatek.com/research/sandiegofire-the-first-successful-hashtag/
https://twitpic.com/135xa
https://eprints.qut.edu.au/48241/
https://snurb.info/node/1568
https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/1246/613
https://interactive.aljazeera.com/aje/2021/the-arab-spring-retweeted-10-years/index.html

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Twitter and the News
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• Twitter and the news
• Gatewatching and news curation
• Crowdsourcing voices to prominence
• A first draft of the present
• Twitter and journalism
• Enthusiasm and reluctance
• Breakthrough moments
• Formal embrace
Twitter for News and Journalism
https://www.theverge.com/2013/1/23/3890674/tweeting-the-news-andy-carvin-test-pilots-twitter-journalism
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1940161212474472
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2908131.2908174
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/opinion/politicians-journalists-using-social-media-obscure-real-issues/news-story/877417373bf26960324d781d8d4b258c
https://mediashift.org/2010/03/the-spill-effect-twitter-hashtag-upends-australian-political-journalism061/
https://www.prweek.com/article/1271650/nyt-hires-social-media-editor
Twitter is the worst. I would call it little more than
a leftwing echo chamber for various highly politicised activists,
including many journalists. This is not surprising since it
was actually invented as a way for pop stars to talk to their
fans rather than to discuss serious issues. […]
Twitter, a medium with a maximum of 140 characters, is
not conducive to logical thought, deep research, reflection
or independence of thought. It is really a place where activists
cheer each other on, often in the foulest language or with
the most naive affirmations of clearly partisan positions.
(Chris Mitchell, The Australian 8 Aug. 2016)

10. Twitter for Community
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11. The Australian Twittersphere, 2016
4m known Australian accounts
Network of follower connections
Filtered for degree ≥1000
255k nodes (6.4%), 61m edges
Edges not shown in graph
(From Bruns, Moon, Münch, and Sadkowsky, 2017.)

12. Teen Culture
Aspirational
Sports
Netizens
Arts & Culture
Politics
Television
Fashion
Popular Music
Food & Drinks
Agriculture Activism
Porn
Education
Cycling
News &
Generic
Hard Right
Progressive
South
Australia
Celebrities
Horse Racing
4m known Australian accounts
Network of follower connections
Filtered for degree ≥1000
255k nodes (6.4%), 61m edges
Edges not shown in graph

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• News? Community? Sociality? Fun? Yes!
• What made Twitter so versatile?
• Flat structure: non-reciprocal following
• Public by default: <5% private accounts
• Hashtags for rapid connection
• Retweets for broad dissemination
• (also picked up by trending topics)
 flat, broad, global weak-tie network
 with major information flows to others
Twitter’s Many Purposes
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1772690.1772751 — https://defector.com/burning-down-the-house — https://sciendo.com/article/10.2478/nor-2019-0011
(Wed. 22 Mar. 2017) — https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/arts/design/elements-of-style-as-occupy-movement-evolves.html
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/sciencefriction/the-whisper-network:-metoo-and-sexual-harassment-in-science/10244242
https://marketing.twitter.com/en/insights/twitter-conversation-report-black-lives-matter
https://twitter.com/bigfudge212121/status/1259317174776115201 — https://eprints.qut.edu.au/66324/

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Why Did It Fail?

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• Early embrace of community ideas
• Search, hashtags, …
• Flourishing third-party development
• Powerful APIs, third-party clients
• Odd and ill-considered decisions
• API changes and shutdowns
• Change of ‘starring’ to ‘liking’…
• … but never an ‘edit’ button
Working with and against the Community
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/09/how-chris-messina-got-twitter-to-use-the-hashtag.html
https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/a/2008/how-replies-work-on-twitter-and-how-they-might
https://twapperkeeper.wordpress.com/2010/08/25/announcing-yourtwapperkeeper-archive-your-own-tweets-on-your-own-server/
https://www.computerworld.com/article/2712336/the-death-of-the-twitter-api-or-a-new-beginning-.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/03/tweetdeck-2008-2013/317756/
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey-apologizes-173627475.html
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/nov/03/twitter-replacing-favourites-with-likes-does-anyone-heart
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/jack-dorsey-says-twitter-needs-an-edit-function

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• Libertarian misconceptions of ‘free speech’
• Muted responses to mis/disinformation
• Bothsidesism rather than targeted action
• Arrangements with autocratic regimes
• Frustrating communal blocklist efforts
• Naked pursuit of engagement metrics
• Mishandling of researcher relationships
• Or outright dismissal of scholarship
• Late rethink (driven by DSA?)
Slow Responses to External Challenges
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/5/16855900/twitter-donald-trump-ban-explanation — https://www.businessinsider.com/twitter-executives-were-hesitant-ban-trump-after-jan-6-report-2023-6
https://twitter.com/jack/status/1602800290876588032 — https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/30/technology/twitter-political-ads-ban.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/turkey-twitter-mahir-zeynalov-1.3783815 — https://news.yahoo.com/why-twitter-blocked-accounts-linked-184754492.html
https://slate.com/technology/2014/08/twitter-harassment-user-created-apps-block-together-flaminga-and-the-block-bot-crack-down-on-twitter-abuse.html
https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/30/twitter-turns-to-academics-to-improve-conversational-health-on-the-platform/ — https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/threatened-scholars-online-
harassment-risks-academic-freedom — https://developer.twitter.com/en/blog/product-news/2021/enabling-the-future-of-academic-research-with-the-twitter-api

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• 2006: Jack Dorsey as founding CEO
• 2008: Ev Williams becomes CEO
• 2010: Dick Costolo becomes CEO
• Many acquisitions and side product
launches (Vine, Gnip, Periscope, …)
• 2013: Twitter shares launched on NYSE
• 2015: Jack Dorsey returns as CEO
• 2022: Elon Musk becomes CEO
• 2023: Linda Yaccarino becomes CEO
Inconsistent, Erratic Management
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jackdorsey/182613360 — https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/2009/04/18/technology/internet/18oprah.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/12/technology/dick-costolo-twitter-ceo-jack-dorsey.html
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/alexkantrowitz/jack-dorsey-says-twitter-needs-an-edit-function
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/twitter-boss-faces-backlash-grim-daily-ritual-tech-ceos-compare-122645907.html — https://slate.com/technology/2021/03/jack-dorsey-testify-twitter-congress-annoyed.html
https://twitter.com/jack/status/1518772756069773313 — https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/meet-linda-yaccarino-elon-musks-new-twitter-ceo-and-the-ad-worlds-velvet-hammer/news-story/b4fd0938449af6b5fb8685913312471d

18. Tech Bro
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What Did Musk Do?

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• Chaos and destruction
• Mass layoffs
• Attacks on staff fighting abuse and hate
• Confusion around paid ‘blue tick’ users
• Replatforming of banned accounts
• Active promotion of disinformation
• Ad revenue sharing with conspiracists
• Suspension of critics’ accounts
• API shutdowns
• Juvenile responses to media
• Lack of engagement with regulators
Twitter under Musk
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/oct/26/elon-musk-twitter-visit-sink — https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/12/13/twitter-files-elon-musk-qanon/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/18/opinion/trump-elon-musk-twitter.html — https://fortune.com/2022/11/11/no-free-insulin-eli-lilly-casualty-of-elon-musk-twitter-blue-verification-mess/
https://deadline.com/2023/07/twitter-revenue-sharing-program-pays-far-right-influencers-elon-musk-1235438248/ — https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/elon-musk-twitter-ban-censorship-17680044.php
https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/31/23739084/twitter-elon-musk-api-policy-chilling-academic-research — https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1637420728743088130 — https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/10/elon-musk-
warned-about-misinformation-violent-content-on-x-by-eu.html — https://gizmodo.com/these-accounts-control-twitters-israel-hamas-news-1850946257
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/oct/16/x-fined-610500-in-australia-first-for-failing-to-crack-down-on-child-sexual-abuse-material

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• Not for the money
• US$44b acquisition price
• Odd coalition of financial backers
• Severe decline in advertising revenue
• Collapse of company value: $4bn?
• Not for the status (?)
• Destruction of Musk’s public image
• Increasingly erratic public appearances
• Flow-on effects for Tesla and SpaceX
Why Does He Do It?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/24/elon-musk-twitter-funders/ — https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2022/12/20/elon-musk-spotted-world-cup-final/
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-66217641 — https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/31/twitters-value-down-two-thirds-since-musk-takeover-says-investor
https://fortune.com/2023/09/06/elon-musk-x-what-is-twitter-worth/ — https://futurism.com/the-byte/jack-dorsey-alarmed-elon-musk-erratic-behavior-twitter
https://www.forbes.com/sites/caterinabulgarella/2022/12/22/as-twitter-crumbles-under-musks-touch-questions-emerge-about-his-leadership-at-tesla-and-spacex/?sh=7601cf5e4339

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• Just no.
X, the ‘Everything App’?
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What Have We Lost?

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• What have we lost?
• Instant access to reliable sources
• Ambient news awareness
• Live tracking of breaking news events
• Access to journalists, politicians, experts
• Ability for communal connective action
• Ability to maintain phatic social ties
• And we don’t even know just how bad it is
Twitter in 2023
https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/06/26/mario-nawfal-russia-elon-musk-twitter/
https://www.journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/article/view/220
https://www.wired.com/story/x-israel-hamas-war-disinformation/
https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musk-and-linda-yaccarino-point-x-in-different-directions-amid-israel-hamas-war-250f29eb

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• Reduced awareness and solidarity
• How do we now track the next natural
disaster, political crisis, or war?
• How does the next #metoo or
#blacklivesmatter organise itself?
• How do ordinary people elsewhere in
the world keep track of these events?
• What are the effects for information
flows in other networks and media?
The Consequences
https://twitter.com/HumansNoContext/status/1672593156150292484

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(Walking backwards
into the future?)
What Now?

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• Growth in new(ish) platform options
• Telegram
• WhatsApp
• Gab
• Parler
• Mastodon
• Bluesky (led by Jack Dorsey)
• Threads (by Meta, not inside the EU)
• TikTok text posts
• …
Fragmentation
https://variety.com/2023/digital/news/parler-shut-down-new-owner-starboard-twitter-clone-conservatives-1235583709/
https://apnews.com/article/bluesky-twitter-jack-dorsey-elon-musk-invite-f2b4fb2fefd34f0149cec2d87857c766

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• Partial migration of some communities
• Early netizens Bluesky
• Academics on Mastodon
• Journalists on WhatsApp?
• Or just ‘quiet quitting’ while they wait for a
network effect to set in
• New features – attractive and off-putting
• Toots, skeets, boosts, …
• Mastodon’s federated server system
• Half-baked policy approaches
Fragmentation
https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/29/23701500/bluesky-twitter-replacement
https://www.niemanlab.org/2022/12/journalism-realizes-the-replacement-for-twitter-is-not-a-new-twitter/
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/12/01/academics-twitter-disperse-wake-musk-takeover
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-03668-7 — https://www.wired.com/story/how-to-quiet-quit-elon-musks-twitter/
https://mastodon.social/@mollywoodpro/110333819524780256 — https://sea.mashable.com/apps-and-software/24466/the-solution-to-twitters-downfall-isnt-five-twitter-clones

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• Is a federated model the answer?
• Complex, but interoperable
• No ‘great leader’ tech-bro CEOs (?)
• Distributed control over moderation
• Possibly inconsistent policy enforcement
• Stability and resilience yet to be tested
• Transparency to outside scrutiny?
• How would regulation work here?
• Confusing for ordinary users
• Network effects still in force
Federation? Consolidation?
https://www.pcworld.com/article/1404826/how-mastodon-and-federated-services-are-putting-social-media-back-in-your-hands.html
https://mashable.com/article/what-is-the-fediverse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FidoNet

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• No social network without network effects
• Long-term fluctuation between
fragmentation and consolidation
• Recentralisation to come soon(ish)?
• Small-scale communities can be happy
on small-scale platforms, …
• … but those do not serve diverse and
general interests
 a flat, broad, global weak-tie network
is still needed in the platform mix
Return to the Centre?
https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/12/12/heres-a-detailed-look-at-the-history-of-social-media/

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• Can we shape the next platform generation?
• We: users, scholars, policy-makers
• What might we want to see?
• Safe, respectful, civil spaces
• Better control over data and privacy
• Transparency and scrutability
• Meaningful, joyful public engagement
• Quality content from trusted sources
• Potential for prosocial connective action
An Opportunity
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Questions?
Thank you!
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Inputs to this were supported by the ARC Laureate Fellowship project Determining the Dynamics of
Partisanship and Polarisation in Online Public Debate, ARC Future Fellowship project Understanding
Intermedia Information Flows in the Australian Online Public Sphere, the ARC LIEF project TrISMA:
Tracking Infrastructure for Social Media Analysis, and the ARC Discovery projects Journalism beyond
the Crisis: Emerging Forms, Practices, and Uses and Evaluating the Challenge of 'Fake News' and
Other Malinformation.
Acknowledgments