I joined Twitter all the way back in 2007. I have stuck with it ever since, logging in daily, following people and being followed (and unfollowed), and engaging in both pleasant conversations and (at times) contentious arguments.
However, in 2024, I’m using Twitter less and less. I do still use it, but it’s no longer the first app I open in the morning, or one that I find myself glued to for hours. There are several reasons for this change of attitude to Twitter (now called X), and they may not be the reasons you assume.
1 There Are Too Many Engagement Farmers
In the early days of Twitter, it was filled with real people who wanted real conversations. A lot has changed since then, and one of the biggest issues now is the glut of engagement farmers. Which, if you’re not familiar with the term, are people whose sole purpose is to garner attention for their posts.
Engagement farmers are generally, though not exclusively, social media influencers whose days are spent online and on social media. And given that social media is pretty much their job, they post on X purely for the purposes of engagement. Cue open-ended questions which everyone will have an answer to, controversial opinions bound to get a reaction, etc.
Once you spot engagement farmers, you can easily avoid them. And I mute any that I see blatantly playing the system to garner the attention (and ad-sharing revenue) they clearly crave. But the fact that they’re there, and succeeding, makes X annoying.
2 Lots of People I Used to Follow Have Left
The changing nature of X over the last few years means that many of the people I used to follow are no longer active on the platform. Whether by choice, or because they have been forced out due to harassment/bullying, they have decamped to new pastures. This means that X is a lot less interesting for me personally.
Obviously, there are plenty of other accounts on X, many of which are relatively new, and some which are worth following. But for someone like myself, who has been on Twitter almost since the beginning, one group departing to be replaced by another means that the platform just isn’t the place it once was. And it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s for me anymore.
The number of people who have left Twitter since Musk took over is quite incredible, with one report claiming that the social media platform lost one-fifth of its US userbase from July 2023 to September 2024.
3 X Is Overwhelmingly Negative and Divisive
When it started, and for much of its pre-X days, Twitter was a place where like-minded individuals had conversations. These were honest, open, and valid conversations. And while people didn’t always agree with each other, things rarely turned nasty or devolved into name-calling sessions.
Now, those nasty conversations are rife on the platform, with confrontation never far away from rearing its ugly head. There’s divisiveness, with groups who are diametrically opposed to each other having it out on X. And there are people making highly offensive statements that are clearly designed to get a reaction, whether positive or negative.
4 Offensive Posts Are No Longer Taken Down
Another way in which Twitter has changed is in the level of moderation being applied. While free speech has always existed on the platform, the lines over what is and isn’t acceptable to say have moved considerably thanks to Elon Musk’s views on free speech. To the point that even if you report a post that crosses the threshold of what most people would deem appropriate, it’s less likely to get taken down.
There have been numerous instances of people reporting posts that clearly break X’s own rules, only to be told that no action is being taken. People are being racially abused, and even threatened with violence, but the posters responsible are being allowed to stay.
5 Paid Blue Ticks Have an Unfair Advantage
One of the biggest changes Elon Musk introduced was ramping up the paid subscription tiers for using X. While Twitter Blue was launched before Musk acquired the site, it was a watered-down version of what it became under Musk. And X Premium now has three tiers which give users extra features over people using X for free.
This feels unfair—with the people willing to pay the most money to use X having an advantage over everyone else. X Premium subscribers can even claim a share of ad revenue generated on their posts, which is making the problem of engagement farming even worse. Accusations of doing the latter have led some people to cancel their X Premium subscription.
As an aside, the fact that anyone can now get a blue checkmark alongside their name has turned X into a confusing place to hang out. Twitter’s former verification scheme was a way to ensure users knew that they were talking to the person they thought they were talking to. Now, all you know is that you’re talking to someone who has paid for the privilege of sporting a blue tick.
6 Bots Are Rife and Their Intentions Are Malevolent
There have always been bots on Twitter/X, but the number now active on the platform appears to have grown out of control. More worrying is the malevolent nature of many of these bots, who are no longer simply there to troll people, but to actively sow division and discontent.
As reported on BBC News, some states have been accused of running bot farms. These can exist to support one country over another, amplify contentious issues, sow division among their enemies, or even influence government elections. And now, thanks to the aforementioned X Premium, these bots can even have blue checkmarks accompanying their name.
Sure, bots and troll accounts have always existed on Twitter, but the problem seems to have only gotten worse.
7 Ultimately, X Is No Longer Fun to Use
All of the above contribute to the ultimate reason why I use X less often now than ever before—it’s no longer the fun place to hang out that it once was. It’s all very serious these days, with the fun, frivolous conversations having mostly given way to controversy, trolling, politics, and downright nastiness.
If I was to sign up to Twitter/X anew, and find it in the state it’s currently in, I wouldn’t think anything of it. I might not stick around for long, but I would accept it for what it is. The problem is the length of time I have been on Twitter, and how it has evolved beyond all recognition in the intervening years.
I don’t see myself ditching Twitter/X completely anytime soon. I have looked into how to deactivate my account just in case, but there are a lot of things to consider before deleting social media accounts. And, for the time being at least, there are just enough reasons to stick around.
However, if the problems outlined above, including engagement farmers, bots, and people sowing division, get any worse, I’ll be decamping to Threads.
