Sheer chaos
has surrounded
Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter over the past few weeks. More than
half of Twitter’s employees have been fired or have resigned. The verification
system no longer means much. And some users have reported problems with
security features. So, if you have an account on the social network, what do
you do?
اضافة اعلان
Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. But this
continuing spectacle presents an opportunity for us to learn how to have
healthier relationships with social platforms, so we are not dependent on any
one of them.
First, it is important to understand what is
happening at Twitter. Threat experts told me they were concerned that the
turmoil at Twitter, including the sudden lack of cybersecurity leaders and many
community moderators, will cause parts of the site to stop working and, at
worst, that security holes might lead to compromised accounts. But deactivating
a Twitter account also poses risks because an impersonator could then more
easily manipulate a person’s followers.
What is more, those who have already left Twitter
quickly realized there was no real alternative. Apps such as Mastodon, the
open-source site that involves posting on a social feed similar to Twitter’s
timeline, are tricky for most people to set up. Reddit is more siloed by
topics. LinkedIn is work-focused, Pinterest is centered on hobbies, TikTok is video-centric
and Meta’s Facebook — well, let us just say it has its own problems.
“Usually when we have an exodus, we’re going from
one place to another,” said Zizi Papacharissi, a professor of communication at
the
University of Illinois-Chicago. “Here, the problem is, what is the other?”
Yet there is a silver lining. This tumultuous
situation with Twitter, according to social media consultants and security
experts I interviewed, can serve as a template with valuable lessons for
everyone, including casual tweeters and celebrities, on how to safely navigate
any social network.
The first lesson is to always have an exit strategy
— a plan for what to do with your data and contacts — in case things go awry.
Lesson two is to avoid overinvesting time and energy on any one social media
site; hedge your bets by posting on multiple platforms that serve your needs.
And finally, remember that there was life before any
of these social media apps, including Twitter. That will make it easier to
forge a path forward.
Let’s unpack how to do all of that.
Plan an exit strategy
With any tech service, the
advice is always having a plan for pulling out your data, including your old
photos and musings, in case something changes that makes you unhappy.
For Twitter, follow the steps listed on its site to
download a copy of your account data. You could then take actions like deleting
sensitive information, such as direct messages. Bear in mind that if you delete
a direct message, it will disappear only on your end; the other people in the
conversation also need to delete it. Once all parties involved have deleted the
conversation, Twitter is expected to purge it from its servers within about 10
days, according to a person familiar with the product, who asked not to be
named for fear of retribution. Musk did not respond to a request for comment on
whether he would continue that policy.
Twitter, which laid off its public relations team,
did not respond to a request for comment.
Your Twitter timeline is simpler to manage. Tools
like Semiphemeral automate the process of purging all your tweets from a
specific period, such as those that are older than 30 days.
Whatever you do, though, resist deactivating your
Twitter account, several security experts said. In the past, Twitter gave
public figures a blue check mark once they had shown the company proof of their
identities. But the new system allows anyone to pay $8 a month to get a check
mark, making impersonation easier.
Another part of an exit strategy should be a plan to
bring your followers along. You can advertise where else you reside on social
media on your Twitter bio, for example, or even write a post about it.
Anil Dash, a tech entrepreneur, listed his Mastodon
username on his
Twitter profile and said he had used a web tool, Fedifinder, to
search for his Twitter contacts on Mastodon. He now has about 11,300 Mastodon
followers, a small chunk of his 500,000 followers on Twitter.
Spread your bets
Another way to not be too
invested in one site such as Twitter is to have an active presence on multiple
platforms.
Joseph Rothstein, CEO of the digital marketing
agency Social Media 55, said to search for overlap between platforms to make it
efficient to cross-post on multiple networks.
For example, TikTok creators could easily post their
video content on Instagram’s Reels, a TikTok clone. They could also repurpose
some of their content on YouTube. Those who like design or home renovation
photos might enjoy both Pinterest and Instagram. People who regularly write
about their field of work on Twitter, which is text-focused, could consider
cross-posting on LinkedIn, the professional networking site owned by Microsoft,
or on Mastodon.
Learn to let go
If you ultimately decide you
want to leave Twitter, you can make your exit by following the steps to deactivate
your account, which is done through your account settings.
Being OK with
letting go is a valuable lesson that we can apply to any of the social
networks, which are all in flux. Papacharissi, the communications professor,
said it was important to remember that if people left Twitter, that was
Twitter’s problem.
“Unless you have people who are sharing meaningful
information, then you have nothing,” she said.
As long as we have a solid exit strategy and a
diversified social media presence, users of these platforms do not need any one
company.
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