The never-ending mass exodus on social media

From Twitter/X to Threads to Bluesky like sheep

Long ago I joined X when it was still called twitter and formed a fun little tribe filled with beagle owners and hockey fans.

It was enjoyable and I grew my account slowly, without trying, simply because we all read and commented respectfully and amicably on each others’ posts.

Then, Elon Musk arrived on the scene and all sorts of shenanigans started to happen. Additionally, people I didn’t follow but who appeared as trending hashtags began to make waves. Celebrities like Stephen King and Valerie Bertinelli in particular dispensed opinionated content to their ever-expanding fan-base while bitterly complaining about the changes Elon implemented on his letter-named app.

I started seeing more ads, more porn and even more ads on my X account. Soon, it became apparent some of my tribe, especially the beagle peeps, began posting less, sometimes disappearing altogether.

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After a while, my X account got hacked. I noticed someone from Dallas was accessing my account with an iPhone (my own phone is android) so I went through all the steps to protect my account and changed my password multiple times.

Nothing worked.

Meanwhile, the posts I used to enjoy became less visible because of the ads, bots and porn. And the dude from Dallas. I don’t know what he was doing, but it was creepy nonetheless.

I heard noises from various people I read and respect both inside X and on my other platforms (WordPress, other social media) that leaving X was better. They hated the toxicity on X, complained of the MAGA infiltration and all the usual polarized, politicized content that became even more pronounced during the most recent Trump campaign.

Despite my best efforts, my X account remained hacked, so I finally got rid of it. But I immediately created a new one, this time naming it after my beagle. I missed the beagle owners, particularly the ones who were active with the rescue operations, which is why I wanted to stick around.

Once I got the new account active, I went on the arduous journey of finding my peeps again.

Few were around. The ones that were didn’t respond to my invitation to join my new account. Odd.

And the hockey crowd? I knew of at least two who also experienced hacked accounts. Maybe they were still around but I didn’t see them, nor would I have recognize them under new names.

I continued to tune in during hockey games to see what some of my formerly-linked peeps were saying, but it was less fun with the usual crowd mostly gone.

Then one day, Stephen and Valerie, both who got into arguments with various content creators on X, including Elon himself, left for sunnier pastures (Threads, which is owned by Meta – Facebook and Instagram) and bluer skies (Bluesky).

A lot of people, none whom followed me nor I followed them, followed their celebrity buddies to the new apps.

I was a little stunned at the mass exodus that appeared to be happening, simultaneously noticing that X was growing. Who were the new followers joining X in leaps and bounds? I assumed they were mostly right-wing voters in various countries, but I didn’t embark on a research project. I had other things to do than to dwell on X all day.

Fast forward to January 2025. Meta announced they will remove all fact-checkers.

I didn’t give the message much attention until I noticed another mass exodus was happening, this time on Threads. Everyone and their grandmother moved on to Bluesky.

I sat there all alone thinking about sheep.

Here’s the thing.

I get it that the toxicity can be draining. I get that the negativity and ego-driven arrogance can grate on one’s nerves.

And yet…

I simply couldn’t abandon ship. Not from X and not from Threads.

Note: I have accounts with all three platforms: X, Threads and Bluesky. I joined well before the drama happened, because I’m curious and because I wanted to save my brand name (writerofwordsetc) to each of these apps.

I am not particularly active on any of these, especially not X. After I deleted my original account on X and was less-than-successful in re-joining the beagle tribe, I created a new fake X account under a name not associated with me which allows me to read anything I want anonymously.

Side note: I chose the name of a female character I created in my still-unpublished novel Strummed Secrets.

I don’t post anything on this new account. But I keep an eye on it.

What better way to stay informed what the president-elect and his billionaire buddy are doing? What better way to see why masses of people – not just Americans – are following them and their activities?

I’m sticking around.

Now let’s talk about the so-called fact-checkers.

For the record, I am not upset about the removal of so-called fact-checkers. I am however intensely curious who these fact-checkers are (or were). Or, more importantly, who paid them to fact-check, and what sources they used to fact-check the published content.

When these fact-checkers began to appear around the first time Trump was campaigning and then became president in 2016, I always wondered what credentials the fact-checkers and their employers had. What made their opnion more important to discern truth from falsehood? And why should you and I believe them?

Have you ever noticed that for every proof that someting is like so, there is the same amount of proof that something isn’t so?

Why were we letting these people control the information we wanted to consumed online?

Did they think we (you and I) are dumb enough to accept everything that is published? Or incapable of rejecting what we know to be false?

Were they saying we (you and I) can’t be left to our own devices and need someone appointed to monitor us?

Were they saying we’re too dumb to rely on our own intelligence to consume social media without someone monitoring truth from falsehood?

I’m not leaving anything. I may not post or publish to those apps much, but I’m reading and learning (and rolling my eyes and shaking my head).

Like it or not, Elon and Trump are going to be around for a while. Elon and Trump are going to do stuff.

I’m going to watch them closely, not abandon ship and stick my head in the sand.

However, I will admit one thing:

Social media – all the platforms equally – can get a little tiresome. My activity level on these apps fluctuates and is cyclical. I find myself both inspired and exasperated by the content, but deem none of the platforms worse than any of the others. The algorithm controls what you see so if you get all irate and frustrated about the one idiot who spews hate and garbage and it’s tolerated by the self-appointed god’s-gift-of-social-media-platforms, well then you have only yourself to blame. The algorithm will now feed you more of this garbage.

Here’s what works well for me when I see this garbage:

I’m curious to see what else happens next, especially after January 20. The question is, can this content be consumed without letting it ignite me?

It’s going to be an exercise in balancing the scales to maintain emotional equilibrium.

But I’m not ready to jump ship. I think that would make me more vulnerable to unpleasant surprises.

Disclaimer: My political position in Canada is the center. I lean a little in either direction pending circumstances. I have neither the time nor the patience for far left or far right ideologies. Don’t try to convince me to vote for one side or the other, it’s futile. Also, I’m not interested in becoming the 51st State of America, no offence to the vast majority of my American readers both here and on my heavily-engaged blog on WP. I’m a dual-citizenship Swiss-Canadian and quite happy to stay that way.

So that’s the end of this post. A little departure from my usual content. I thank you for reading it through and welcome your feedback, as always.

I will be cross-posting this article on my WordPress blog in the coming days. The vast majority of my 4k subscribers do not read my substack newsletter, and I know they will appreciate reading this content on their familiar reader app.

Until next time!

Claudette