The Cost of Leaving Twitter

This morning I saw a post by @numericcitizen over on his Micro.blog site:

If you don’t have a website, a blog or a newsletter and only exist on Twitter, then I give up. You’re not worth it. Thought of the night.

I felt compelled to write a comment to this, which I’m reproducing here:

The flipside of that, though, is that most website / blog services require payment, or come with strings attached. I would suggest that for those who can’t afford the ‘luxury’ of a website due to being poor, as in actually poor, Twitter gives them a place where their voice can be heard (for now). Especially so for those on the margins, it’s a way to find community and solidarity, and hold the powerful to account. So leaving is the option for those who can afford to. My two penny worth, not defending Twitter but not all of those who remain there are loving it either.

I’m acutely away that I can afford the modest cost of the web hosting this site lives on and the domain name and SSL certificate attached to it. Many, though, aren’t in that position. They might not even own a device capable of operating a WordPress or Blogger site, let alone a static site generator.

For all its sins, Twitter is a means for the marginalised to make their voices heard. Decentralised networks like Mastodon may be safer, but that comes at the cost of cutting off the means to hold those in power to account, as I mentioned in my comment. How effective that is, granted, is open to debate and may be curbed by Musk if recent reports are to be believed. But I think it’s important to keep that in mind, especially in the minds of those who can potentially build alternatives.