I’ve been thinking about this for some time - why does the world need Twitter?
I admit I have a Twitter account. (It’s only on my laptop, not on my phone.) I look at it maybe twice a year. I don’t follow any celebrities. I don’t follow any politicians. I don’t follow any athletes, famous or not. If something newsworthy occurs somewhere in the world, well then, I guess I’ll read it on a news site.
Why do people think it’s so important to read/see/hear anything and everything someone says and thinks? I certainly don’t need Twitter to communicate with friends - that’s why I have WhatsApp.
Maybe someone can clue me in.
It sucked before Elon came on. I laugh at the people who say he ruined it. It was already a trash heap, he just set it on fire.
Let’s start with a follow up question: Why do you think you need WhatsApp to communicate with friends?
Government agencies have used it to transmit emergency information. If there’s a better current way to get immediate eyeballs the way TV and radio used to, I personally am not thinking of it. It’s a case where Twitter’s sense of immediacy is a pro rather than a con.
I don’t need it. I liked it though. I used to check in on a few accounts daily, and take note of what was trending. I found the comments entertaining. Now I can’t see it anymore, because I’m too cool to have my own account. 
Twitter has 350 million uses. Presumably at least 1% of them find it to be extremely important, even critical. That’s 3,500,000 people. Moving them all over to a different community that serves the same needs is at the very least a pain, and may be literally impossible to rebuild.
That’s what Musk is counting on. Force of numbers, not the opinions of individuals.
Many empires have thought they were too big to fail.
It’s quite clearly a hell of a lot worse. Twitter was sustainable before.
About as useful as the old AOL chat “waiting room”.
I had a Twitter account. Approx once a week I’d go in and post a link to my latest blog post. Other than that, shrug …
Elon Musk made some stupid edict that pissed me off a couple weeks ago so I nuked my account.
Why do you think you need friends? Sitting alone in a yurt a hundred miles from anyone else is good enough for everyone!
Of course we don’t “need” it. I’ve never logged on to Twitter (or Instagram/WhatsApp/whatever.) But obviously many many people feel differently. I’ve heard people say they get news and other stuff from Twitter. I’m able to get all the news I wish elsewhere.
…which was probably alerted to that news via Twitter. News sites don’t send people out to get statements from the newsworthy anymore; the newsworthy just say what they want to say to the media and public via Twitter.
I don’t need Twitter (I don’t even use it) but my news sources definitely do.
I don’t need it, but I’ve found it extremely useful. I can get information instantly straight from the source.
I don’t just mean “news”. For example, I follow several concert venues so I can find out ASAP when a new tour of a band I like is announced. By the time the info is published in regular places, tickets are often all sold out.
Reasonable point. Back in 1993, when I would rush up to my bedroom, switch on the modem, and connect to read the Dope and get my email, many people in my life would roll their eyes and say they didn’t need a computer or the internet and didn’t understand why I thought I did.
No Twitter account. No Facebook account.
Had a Facebook account. I thought I should at least know what all the fuss was about (I’m a programmer) but I never used it so I deleted it. I suppose if you have kids it’s a good way to keep in touch.
I waste too much time here as it is.
I find it entertaining, educational, and a good source for accurate news, as long as you winnow out your feed diligently. It was a great way to interact with a wide variety of people immediately, and on a more personal level than even a place like the SDMB can offer. Though having said that, it is very comparable here.
I’m sure people can get those things elsewhere. However, I don’t go elsewhere, I go here, and I go there. Twitter suited me very well.
I like Twitter. I see breaking news way before it hits mainstream media, I also see rumours that journalists are picking up. I couldn’t give a stuff about what media celebs are doing - that’s what Instagram is for - but I DO find it interesting reading the thoughts and debates of significant politicians, scientists, historians… hell, cooks!
I can’t stand Facebook - it’s just old people moaning about the neighbourhood not being like it was in their youth. Instagram is just people showing off about their holidays. TikTok is mindless drivel. WhatsApp is just friends and family bugging me. Twitter at least has a portion of content written by intelligent people.
Government agencies transmitting emergency information don’t need Twitter. All phones nowadays come with emergency-alert apps built deep into the OS (most often used for Amber Alerts, but could also be used for other sorts of emergencies).
I recently started posting on a dormant Twitter account, mainly to add links to my Substack on gardening.
I also got drawn into checking on a few accounts run by scientists and/or anti-quackery docs, and wow - many comments and their associated account holders are as viciously insane as anything you’d find online. Twitter’s a sewer, now run by a self-destructive dingbat.
If/when Twitter goes under, it won’t be a calamity.
Because it’s an easy and fast way to exchange information (and jokes!) without having to call. WhatsApp is more direct;