Writers’ Alternatives and the Coming 230 Backlash

Lately, I have been reading that Twitter may be on its last legs, legally. The government is looking at its 230 immunities of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 being taken away. It could be sued into oblivion. Social media is for some their livelihoods, and when the censorship started, their livelihoods stopped.

Out of all the social media platforms I have used, Twitter is my second choice (WordPress is first – it has a robust follower aspect, if you so choose). I like the fact that you can read other feeds without having to have an account: it is an open platform, unlike FaceBook. You can follow someone and not have to ask, unlike FaceBook. I also have been on Twitter because it is a very popular place for writers to congregate. It is the reason I will stay on Twitter until it is gone.

The concern I have is if it goes the way of the dinosaur – where will the writers congregate? And this applies to FaceBook too because they are also censoring speech. I don’t have a large following, but I do enjoy the people I follow and that follow me. I could live without my social media accounts, but my writing life would be diminished.

Back before social media became popular, most relied on RSS feeds, search engines, and ranking sites. Some still do. Twitter used to have RSS capabilities.

I have tried Parler, Gab, Tumblr, Minds, Pinterst. As far as writing goes, I had the most success on Minds. Writers come with diverse political beliefs. Being part of a site with preaching- to-the-choir tendencies is not something I desire, and I think I am not alone in this. In civil discourse, we can learn from each other.

All this to say, writers need to be seriously considering an alternative plan for social media. From my reading of the conservatives on Twitter, they are for the most part fixing to jump ship.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this in the comments section.