[Air-L] What if Twitter Ceased to Exist?

[Tracey M Benson]

Very interesting thread.

When I joined Twitter in 2007 I just used it like a social bookmarking tool
as I was a del.icio.us fan.

Now whatever happened to that neat platform??

Perhaps with time
Twitter will also fade into the shadows of platforms past along with
MySpace :-)

Best
Tracey

On Tue, 8 Nov 2022, 05:09 S.A. Applin via Air-L, <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
wrote:

> Hello,
>
> You raise an interesting point, but I would modify it:
>
>
> Twitter did cease to exist. For all of human history until 2006.
> For many, it doesn’t exist. There are a lot of people who don’t use it.
>
> I think the interesting part of the story here, is how/why we embraced
> something like Twitter.
>
> When the telephone first came to be, people saw universal value in its
> infrastructure.
> Governments got involved to insure that people would have equal access.
>
> It endured.
>
> Twitter is like a utility, but it isn’t a utility. It’s more like a
> directory/utility—and it is private.
>
> I’m curious as to  why we invest so deeply in systems that are privately
> owned, and are subjected to the same openings and closings as any
> business—and how people just were in either collective denial about that,
> or could not forsee a time when it would change.
>
> -Sally
>
>
> > On Nov 7, 2022, at 4:47 AM, John McNutt via Air-L <
> air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:
> >
> > While I do not think this is likely, what would happen if Twitter folded?
> > If you've been studying technology for some time, you have seen many
> > platforms come and go.
> >
> > What would we lose?  How would we adapt?  Would it lead to a
> proliferation
> > of new platforms?  It's worth thinking about.
> >
> > Just a thought,  Best, John
> >
> > --
> > John McNutt, Professor Emeritus
> > Biden Scholl
> > University of Delaware
> > Newark, DE 19716 USA
> > _______________________________________________
> > The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> > is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> > Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
> >
> > Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> > http://www.aoir.org/
>
> _______________________________________________
> The Air-L at listserv.aoir.org mailing list
> is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org
> Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at:
> http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
>
> Join the Association of Internet Researchers:
> http://www.aoir.org/
>