On Twitter

A lot of ink is spilled on social media, a drop in the bucket of ink spilled on social media. The best writing on social media is Eric Posner’s “TWENTY THESES ABOUT TWITTER”.

“TWENTY THESES” is great because of its form, subject, insight, and humor. An elegant and tightly argued disputation that addresses social media at its best, namely Twitter (X if you’re nasty). It serves as an examination of conscience for the user as much as an indictment of the platform. The theses are not overly self-serious as so much writing on social media is escaping the *Tyler, the creator* critique of cyber bullying: “Hahahahahahahaha… Just Walk Away From The Screen… Close Your Eyes Haha”

The first five theses are simply devastating:

1. People sign up for Twitter for two reasons: to obtain information and to exert influence.

2. Twitter serves these functions poorly. If you want information about a specific topic, a Google search is a more efficient way to obtain it. If you want information about current events, you do better by reading a newspaper.

3. Twitter provides information poorly because tweets are mostly driven by the latest outrage and are hence redundant. The rare tweet that contains an interesting or unusual idea is lost in the cataract.

4. Twitter is a poor device for exerting influence because of #5.

5. No tweet has ever persuaded anyone of anything.

Perhaps the most important for those of us who simply refuse to log off are theses sixteen through eighteen:

16. In the non-virtual world, successful people take care to keep up impressions, for example, they avoid making controversial statements to friends, colleagues, and strangers except when unavoidable, and even then do so in a carefully respectful way.

17. In Twitter, the same people act as if their audience consisted of a few like-minded friends and forget that it actually consists of a diverse group of people who may not agree with them in every particular on politics, religion, morality, metaphysics, and personal hygiene. Hence tweeting becomes a source of misunderstanding and mutual hostility. The Twitter paradox is that one seeks solidarity but is constantly reminded of one’s solitude. Fortunately, there is always the mute button.

18. Without realizing it, people who use Twitter damage the image of themselves that they cultivate in the non-virtual world.

For those who are caught (though they came to catch!) remember the words of Kohelet:

“A good name is better than precious ointment;
and the day of death than the day of one’s birth.”

-Ecclesiastes 7:1