You know how people looked at the dumb decisions of #StocktonRush and said don't get in the #Titan ?
Don't get into an #ElonMusk #Tesla or #SpaceX
this post was submitted on 01 Jul 2023
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I could never understand what drew people to Twitter. I just want to stab myself in the eyes everytime I end up there.
Each time a platform reaches enough popularity to attract an average voter, people starts to blame the platform for being stupid. I'm waiting for the day we collectively realize it's not the platform we hate, it's the average person.
The average person it's fine, it's when they're in a group and you get the average of the average people that things get dumb.
Solution: kill all humans /s
Us meatbags had our chance
We seem to be doing a pretty good job of that, too.
When you have one guy in town that's an idiot, that guy is the village idiot. The village idiot know he's the dumbest guy in town and so will tend to listen to the people smarter than him.
But with the internet you're getting a lot of people together and letting them find groups they fit into. That's mostly a good thing.
But all the village idiots get into a group together where they only people they're talking to are other village idiots. Then they start thinking their idiocy is right. And they stop listening to the people smarter than them.
Then you have a lot of confident idiots who bring everyone down to their level.
I feel like part of what caused it to explode is that some celebrities joined up early and it provided a tangible way for fans to interact directly with them. This was totally novel and completely unprecedented. Prior to Twitter you could watch Entertainment Tonight and read People magazine. Twitter let you directly contact celebrities.
I really couldn't care less about celebrities, which I have always thought is part of why Twitter has always felt kind of pointless to me.
But I fully recognize that for some people that's a huge draw and I do think it's a big part of what makes Twitter popular.
For a moment in time, Twitter livestreaming the Arab spring and other mass demonstrations was more effective than the CIA at toppling regimes
This assumes the CIA wasn't involved in it.
It's the same thing that makes any social media attractive: everybody else is there and it's where things are happening. This critical mass of users is the hardest thing for a website to gain and the hardest to lose.
It's a toolkit that allows people to imagine themselves as an online celebrity. Or maybe a cult leader.
Lots of followers liking the things you say at the ready anytime you want to pretend that you have adoring fans.