In Musk’s view, opening up Twitter will encourage dialog amongst people with diverse views, and will fuel a “ functioning democracy.” But if you pretend it’s a city, then Musk just essentially bought the mayorship. Most of these aren't the kind of world-changing conversations Musk seems to want to have, but they’re just as vital. People have neighborhoods they stick to sometimes they go out and talk with friends, sometimes they watch from their windows, sometimes they talk up strangers in a park.
But for the rest of Twitter-some 229 million daily users-it’s more like a metropolis. Yes, for people like Musk it’s a place to have debates they think are important for humanity people with millions of followers are often the people who think what they’re saying is most important. This metaphor seems slightly off, though.
In Musk’s mind, “Twitter serves as the de facto public town square,” and as such, it should be a place where people are able to speak their minds. “Elon Musk once tweeted ‘pronouns suck.’ What could go wrong when he owns Twitter?” asked Them, adding that his ownership could be a “nightmare” for LGBTQ+ people. “With Elon Musk in charge, it’s the beginning of the end for #BlackTwitter,” wrote the Los Angeles Times. In the last week, since Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of Twitter, users have been cautiously eyeing the deal, wondering if Musk’s stewardship of the platform could erode those communities. Gay Twitter, Black Twitter, Trans Twitter, Feminist Twitter, Asian-American Twitter-they’re all there, if you know where to look.
Several years ago, in response to a piece about the internet’s love of the movie Carol, someone posted a tweet claiming “the year is 2017 and WIRED has just discovered Gay Twitter.” The criticism is fair we were probably a bit late to the party, but it was also an indication that, on Twitter, the subgroups are practically endless.
The Monitor is a weekly column devoted to everything happening in the WIRED world of culture, from movies to memes, TV to Twitter.