Bob Wertz

I wrote a post in 2016 asking how I would deal with the inevitable demise of Twitter. And followed up with posts in 2018, 2022 and 2023.¹

In each of the post, one common refrain kept resurfacing. There is no equal for following a live event on Twitter. The last month or so, there have been several events in tech and sports that I would have followed closely on Twitter.

You know what? I didn’t miss Twitter at all.

Instead, I stuck with Micro.Blog and Threads. On Micro.Blog, I follow not only other Micro.Blog users, but I also follow a number of Mastodon users who I previously followed on Twitter. Most of those people are journalists or experts who I do not know personally. On Threads, I follow mostly people that I know personally, many of whom have common interests. These two services combined provided everything I needed. I didn’t even think about logging back into Twitter.

Finally, I’m baffled by friends who remain active on Twitter despite everything that Musk has said and done. They seem addicted to their “audience” and are scared to lose “engagement.” There are other options and it’s time to move on. The sooner you start building a new audience, the sooner you can leave Twitter.

Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.