As Elon Musk hurls Twitter’s decent into irrelevance others haven’t sat on the heels, but have been hard at work.

In the span of a week, Threads, a Meta built app, and Spill arrived to scoop users defecting from Twitter for better social interactions.

Huge Numbers

Threads acquired 100 million users in the last 7 days which beat ChatGPT’s record. A big reason for Threads’ huge adoption is its linkage to Instagram. Instagram has over 1 billion users on its platform and 10% of its base isn’t an impossible feat for a companion app.

Social Media Is Dead

In 2023 we are so far removed from social media’s intent we only use these apps for the quick hit of dopamine they reliably deliver.

Social media’s promise was to help us create digital connections with our friends and family regardless of geography. Along the way, we could create groups to attract others who shared our interests and create new connections with an ever expanding list of friends.

Over time, many of us carried these digital bonds over into real life finding new groups of life long friends who shared similar interests, desires, and dreams.

When I scroll Facebook I see more ads than pictures of my friends. When I’m looking at my friends’ posts I’m not really connecting but consuming their media.

I like a bunch of pictures on Instagram, and watch workout videos, but I’m not dialoguing with anyone really. Instagram’s public portrayal of curated life doesn’t really provide a way to properly congratulate anyone for their body transformation work or speaking engagement. It’s just a vehicle for a mutual dopamine hit given by the consumer and appreciated by the producer.

Twitter no longer serves a purpose of being an instantaneous update source or as Musk likes to think, a town square. It’s full of toxic cryers and trolls looking to pick digital fights under cover of handles and screen names. Twitter’s heaviest users tweet 3 times a week and most people simply consume the platform.

More Drug Addiction Than Community Building

We sit at our desks, lounge our couches, and lay in our beds scrolling.

We hold up phones posting concert photos instead of listening, post photos of our meals, and Tweet informative talks instead of being in the moment with the audience, our friends, and gaining more knowledge.

Social media apps promised much joy in connecting with others, and we’ve picked up drug fueled habits of FOMO, hate speech, and negative self esteem.

Needed Change

I have no delusions of human beings coming together and singing Cum Ba Yah with each other on a digital platform. People are demanding more from social apps, though. People are craving community and more connection over toxic and trollish behavior.

For all of Musk’s moves to bring trolls back to Twitter his advertisers and swaths of users have fled. No one likes being around trolls, not even trolls. All you have to do is look at 4chan.

It’s high time the tech nerds (don’t get me wrong, I love tech nerds, I’m married to one) get out of the way and let people who know how to build community get involved.

In a time of planetary uncertainty, losing faith in our government, and too much meanness, people want to feel they’re a part of something real. Not another digital platform.

-MJ