I had no plan to join Bluesky. Then a friend sent me an invite code, and I changed my mind. Bluesky is one of many social networks that have emerged to compete with Twitter, which, since Elon Musk gained control last October, has grown increasingly toxic. Alternatives have come fast and furious — Mastodon, with its multiple servers (too confusing); Post and Hive and Spill.
None have really stuck.
Then last Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta, which operates Instagram and Facebook, launched Threads, another Twitter-esque platform that within less than a week signed up more than 100 million users. “I’m not sure I can wrap my mind around that fact,” Threads’ boss Adam Mosseri posted.
All of this plays out against the accumulating chaos at Twitter. Over the Fourth of July holiday, the number of tweets users could see was suddenly limited. Musk bears much of the responsibility for the upheaval, with his penchant for conspiratorial tweeting, his broad-strokes notions of free speech and his general arrogance.
Read more:Threads, Meta's Twitter clone, just launched — and people are already complaining about it
In some form or another, I’ve been on Twitter for nearly 15 years. I also have a Facebook account. I have resisted the urge to leave or join other networks for a variety of reasons, not least because it feels overwhelming. How many social media networks are too many? Besides, even now Twitter’s reach can keep me in touch professionally and personally with just about everyone I...
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