gruber on twitter
I vibe with John's proclamation that X Once Again Marks the Spot. I would like to follow "hundreds of interesting people and accounts [...] that post on X very regularly". I would like to show and discuss fascinating new apps on the platform. I would like to swim upstream to where the most people are and the most commotion happens. Upstream to the stretch of the river with the most pockets, such that I can find those that are most friendly toward, inclusive of, and cheerful for me.
Warner's John Gruber Thinks I’ve Lost My Mind has me realizing how Twitter has been the opposite of a cesspool for me. It's been one of my few popular social media mainstays for a while now. The fact that "big brands, celebrities, and sports reporters still rely on Twitter", paired with it being "apparently where the action is when it comes to talking about AI", screams targeted advertising. Speaking of action and AI, John wrote:
Bluesky and Mastodon are too small for most people to care about — and, worse, they are the networks where politics are, in my experience, unavoidable. You can have a discussion about cool new use cases and tools for AI on X and people just discuss the tools and use cases. On Bluesky and Mastodon it’s difficult to have such discussions without arguments from people who (a) believe all use of AI is unethical, and (b) will shove their viewpoints into your replies.
It's not just him holding that sentiment though.
In John Gruber on X, Gavin wrote:
He’s also correct that even the slightest positivity about LLMs on Bluesky or Mastodon will result in random pile-ons. People can feel how they want about LLMs, but the lack of subtlety on the subject — especially on Bluesky — can be a lot.
In John Gruber on X, Colin wrote:
X is the only place on the web, other than a relatively few blogs that I follow, to keep up-to-date with development of large language models and other AI tools. It also happens to be a valuable source of information on many topics.
Mastodon is far and away my favorite social network. Its open, its truly federated, and I’ve found so many amazing people there. But lately it has felt like a bar on Route 66.
Sounds like a breath of fresh air for someone excited about and wishing to immerse more in AI, LLMs, and similar technologies.
As for Dan's An Open Letter To The People Writing Lengthy Posts About 'Why I'm Going Back to Twitter' comprising the question:
What the fuck are you doing?
Various people whose ideas, identities, and interactions I value choose "to give money or participate in Elon Musk's empire of depravity". I guess I can join in the fun too, in service of not only myself but also those people. I think that mindset further bolsters this takeaway from Lex's X is bad, though:
So the question becomes this: Can you disagree with Elon Musk, or consider him an anti-trans, racist Nazi, and still use X?
Sure, you can.
If you think differently, I hope you succeed with whatever platforms or lack thereof you land on.