My Web Values: Why I Quit X and Feed the Fediverse Instead
I stopped posting on Twitter, now known as X, in November 2023. X isn't open, it throttles distribution, and devalues links. Simply put, it doesn't align with my values as a supporter of the open web.
Every time I come across someone I respect in the web world who is still posting on X (formally Twitter), I can't help but wince. There are even some indie web rock stars who still post to X. Lest that sound too judgmental, I’ll add that in most cases those people are much more outspoken than me about online ethics and social justice issues — so arguably, they’re better humans than I am. I guess I’m just saying I’m always a little dismayed when I see industry people I admire still posting to X.
And yes I know the justifications: you’re POSSE-first (Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere), your network is still on X, you’re a struggling creator, etc. I get all that. But when I came across the following quote recently, it resonated with me and I thought I’d write up my own philosophy on why I don’t post to X.
“Feeding your words to a platform is a vote for its values, whether you like it or not.”
Those words are from Matt Webb, a long-time blogger who still runs an active blog at interconnected.org. The quote was re-blogged by Jeremy Keith, another OG, who had originally posted it to his website, where it was syndicated to Mastodon (POSSE in action), which is where I saw it. I clicked through to Matt’s post to read the context, and was treated to a wonderful blog post entitled, "Reflections on 25 years of Interconnected.” I was on a desktop computer and couldn’t help but notice that “X/Twitter” was linked in his sidebar (along with Mastodon and Bluesky). Again, I really don’t want to be judgmental…but I did flinch when I clicked through and saw that he still posts there.
Why I Quit X and Substack
Ok, so enough virtue signalling from me. In no way am I saying that I am ‘better’ than anyone else because I no longer post on X. But I do want to explain why I don’t, because it all comes down to my web values.
I stopped posting on Twitter in November 2023, several months after Elon Musk rebranded the site as “X.” I was already posting on Mastodon, but I wanted to fully commit to it — make it my new social media home. After all, Mastodon is an open source, decentralized product built on a W3C open web standard. That, I decided, fit into my core web values.
In truth, it was an awkward time for me to quit Twitter, as I had just started syndicating my Web 2.0 memoir that very month. So I was, at first glance, throwing away a distribution system for my book. But that brings me to two other web-related reasons for ditching X:
- My distribution on X had become almost non-existent, because I had refused to pay for a “blue tick” — i.e. a premium membership. At the time I had well over 9,000 followers on Twitter (and this was without ever getting on a Suggested User List, unlike my previous handle @RWW). But as I posted the first few articles from my book, I noticed they were getting 100-200 views only — meaning that a tiny percentage of my followers were seeing my posts. So essentially, X was throttling my distribution. Anyone else who didn’t have a blue tick was in the same boat.
- The other web value that X stomped all over was its devaluation of external links. As The Guardian noted in a news report in early October 2023, X “stopped showing headlines for links posted on the site.” Basically, X made links look like a normal image — which meant fewer people clicked on them.
These two issues were my own personal tipping point to reject X altogether, and go all-in on open social media (a.k.a. the fediverse). I’ll add that I was also hugely annoyed at Elon Musk for firing the entire Twitter developer platform team — and hence consigning all third-party API development to the dustbin — when he first took over Twitter.
A couple of months after I quit X, I also migrated off Substack. I’ve already blogged my reasons for that, but in summary: I wanted to move my website from a centralized platform to open web, from corporate to indie, from being controlled to taking back control. For Substack, it was a harder move to make — I had been on there since 2019 and I knew one of the founders. But Substack’s stance on hate content was the last straw for me.
My Web Values
To sum up, I’ve outlined here several web values that are very important to me — both philosophically and to my career as a web journalist. Those values are:
- Support open source software like Mastodon over “walled gardens” like X.
- Support open web platform technology; ideally blessed by the Web’s governing body, the W3C.
- Distribution on the web should never be throttled. That was a core tenet of Net Neutrality in the first couple of eras of the web — it mostly related to ISP power during that time. Since then it’s become a core tenet of the open web, in the current era of enshittified platforms that control distribution via feed algorithms. Incidentally, this is also why I am hugely skeptical of Meta’s Threads product and why I don’t use it as much as Mastodon or Bluesky, both of which give control of the feed to the user (as it always should be).
- External links should be encouraged, not de-emphasized. Mastodon and Bluesky both encourage linking. Whereas platforms like X, LinkedIn and Facebook are guilty of de-emphasizing external links, as a way to keep users inside their walled gardens.
I’ve focused on web values in this post, not other ethical or moral values (such as the aforementioned hate content on Substack, or Elon Musk’s overtly political motivations). But I think web values are just as important. Or at least, they are to me, since the open web has been a vital part of my life and career.
In short: X doesn’t line up with my values, and that’s why I don’t feed my words into it.
Buy the Book
My Web 2.0 memoir, Bubble Blog: From Outsider to Insider in Silicon Valley's Web 2.0 Revolution, is now available to purchase:
- Paperback, US$19.99: Amazon; Bookshop.org
- eBook, US$9.99: Amazon Kindle Store; Apple Books; Google Play
Or search for "Bubble Blog MacManus" on your local online bookstore.