Pouring One Out for Tweetbot

RIP Tweetbot

I was utterly distraught on January 12th that I could no longer access or use one of my favorite apps, Tweetbot. I’ve been a content consumer on Twitter for years now. It’s the place where I find out what’s new in gaming. It’s the place where I get the earliest scoop from journalist. It’s the place where I get a hot tip from a chap named @Wario64 to procure another PS5 for a friend. But I rarely visited Twitter using the official application. It frankly sucks. And it’s gotten worse week-by-week as Chief Twit ignores tenets of product design in his journey to drive a company to the ground.

Tweetbot was the app that made viewing my timeline a joy. No algorithms or promotions. Tweetbot gave me exactly what I wanted: a historical timeline of events as they happened for only what I followed. I used Tweetbot everyday, and I was happy to pay for it. And now, multitudes of apps that shaped the Twitter we know today have met their demise at the hands of narcissist.

This turn of events is a true shame, and while I knew this day would come, I’m still conflicted on what I should do next on this platform. I’m not leaving Twitter yet, but I do think it is time for me to start looking elsewhere and hedge my bets. Perhaps that new Ivory app by Tapbots will be the push I need to make a Mastodon account if only to experience good product design once again.

The Farce That Is Twitter 2.0

The amount of headspace I’ve rented out to Elon Musk since he bought Twitter is too damn high. Watching him run and execute his “vision” of Twitter 2.0 is the equivalent of seeing an 8-car pileup caused by a self-driving Tesla on the Bay Bridge. What a ride it has been seeing a man claim all his actions are to promote free speech; when in reality, everything he’s done is to dig himself out of a self-induced crap hole.

Twitter 2.0 is going so well by the way. It’s looking to be just as successful as Web3 so far. Thanks to their new management, we now have a company run by skeleton crew, an almost weekly slew of terrible UI enhancements, a subscription service no one wants, and a gift of one single mobile client for all to use. For a platform that will live and die by the content it contains, it sure seems like these brilliant moves will lead to an eventual decline in people’s interest. Content creators will get fed up, and they will look elsewhere as other channels are not only prevalent but also managed better.

Twitter claimed to have a vision of being the “town square of the internet”. In due time, Twitter 2.0 might become that, but it’s going to end up a town square that no one wants to visit or hear about.