Genre Grapevine on What Musk's Purchase of Twitter Means for the SF/F Community
Note: This column was originally published on October 28, 2022 on my Patreon.
Elon Musk completed his purchase of Twitter yesterday and immediately fired a number of the platform’s top executives, including the company’s CEO and top lawyer. He also wrote a detailed yet still vague post about his goals for the site, which naturally were directed at "Twitter Advertisers" instead of users. (Side note: Can we even call that a Freudian slip when we all know who Musk likely values the most at Twitter?)
In the post Musk wrote that he doesn’t want the platform to become a “free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said with no consequences.” He added that “in addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences..."
But of course Twitter users remember there’s a reason this recent tweet from Shiv Ramdas went viral: “The next time you think you're overreacting, remember that Elon Musk is really willing to pay $43 billion just to prevent people from laughing at him on Twitter.”
In short, while Musk talks about the future of civilization and the importance of having a common digital town square, he hasn’t exactly proven himself a champion of true free speech over the years.
Obviously we’ll have to wait and see what changes Musk will implement. However, what is known is that in the twelve hours after Musk’s purchase was finalized, “the use of the n-word has increased nearly 500% from the previous average.” It appears 4chan and other bad actors have been encouraging Twitter users to amplify derogatory slurs on the platform. This harkens back to the Twitter of a decade ago where racial epithets were continually thrown at people of color on the platform.
This will prove an immediate test to Musk’s so-called goal of keeping the platform from becoming a free-for-all hellscape. Musk is about to discover there’s a difference between being a billionaire who continually screams about “freeze peach” on Twitter and a Musk who has to deal with people throwing crap all over a platform he now owns.
For more on what Musk may do with Twitter, check out this Slate article explaining why Musk is unlikely to open the Nazi floodgates and this detailed CNN Business article exploring possible changes to moderation and other policies that Musk may aim for.
But for now, we’re in a wait and see as to what changes Musk will actually make to the everyday experience on Twitter.
Twitter Alternatives and Paths in the SF/F Community
But that doesn’t mean Twitter users in the science fiction and fantasy community are simply sitting idly by until Musk reveals his hand.
As I documented at the end of last year, Twitter has been central to a number of abuse and harassment campaigns in the SF/F community. Obviously Twitter is merely a tool and does not organize such campaigns by itself. But for many people the platform has often seemed to be an almost active participant in online harassment due to its lax moderation standards.
Because of that there have been discussions in the SF/F community for several years about people both leaving Twitter and alternatives to the platform.
One alternative that's received a good bit of attention is the decentralized social network Mastodon. And Twitter founder Jack Dorsey just announced his new Bluesky Social app is accepting users for beta testing, with a launch set for the nebulous time-frame of “soon.” But the problem with these platforms if neither has anywhere near the critical mass of users that Twitter does.
There have also been more people in recent days saying they’ll leave Twitter because of Musk’s purchase, prompting Bree Lundberg to say “Please please if you’re thinking of leaving twitter in light of it being sold to you-know-who, bookmark the sites/shops and join newsletters of artists you like!! We rely on social media for freelance and sales, don’t forget about us.”
There are likewise people like Stina Leicht who are taking a wait and see attitude. As Leicht said, “Still considering what to do re: Musk takeover of Twitter. For now, I'm staying for now bc I want nothing more than to participate in wrecking that man's whole day when he discovers he knows fuck all about social media and loses his $44B. On the other hand, we're the product.”
Finally, there are others who are doubling down and refusing to leave. As Patrick S. Tomlinson said, “I am not leaving Twitter because ceding territory isn't how you defeat an enemy. I also believe Musk has spent far too much money on a platform he doesn't understand and ultimately can't control. But that means standing firm, not retreating.”
For those staying on Twitter, K. Tempest Bradford shared a good thread on ways to make your experience better, such as by using TweetDeck and changing certain account settings.
Some authors and genre fans are also suggesting migrating to newsletters. As Sarah Gailey said in April, “I've found newsletters to be vastly superior to Twitter in terms of keeping up with my favorite authors' work. Updates directly in the inbox, links to events that I don't have to search a Twitter feed for, exclusive previews of upcoming stuff, pet photos, little to no Discourse.”
I personally love the newsletter model. But it must be noted newsletters lack the ability to interact with people who don’t subscribe and for new people to discover your work when something pops up in their timeline, all of which are hallmarks of Twitter.
Another alternative being explored by authors and fans such as Aidan Moher is setting up private Discords for social interactions with each other. This might result in a number of authors doing a soft quit on Twitter by looking to Discord for talking with fans and fellow writers and only using Twitter for promotional purposes.
But that’s a path that may work better for more established writers. Part of the problem with leaving Twitter is that many editors, publishers and literary agents are on the platform and use Twitter to connect with and find new authors (hence the continuing popularity of agents doing Twitter pitch events).
That said, many publishers like Apex Books and Apex Magazine maintain their own Discords. If Twitter turns extremely toxic under Musk it’s possible more magazines and book publishers will experiment with their own Discords.
Finally, John Wiswell shared a good thread on the many different platforms he uses to interact with the world as an author, including having a newsletter, an Instagram, a Patreon, and a blog. Perhaps Wiswell’s approach of having as many platforms as possible to reach both readers and the general SF/F community is one we’ll see more people embrace in the coming months.
If it seems like there isn’t one trend in how the SF/F community is responding to Musk’s purchase of Twitter, that’s because the platform has over the last decade become so enmeshed with the SF/F genre, writing, and books. As Premee Mohamed said earlier this year, "virtually every single opportunity (panels, teaching, story solicits, book deals, story ideas) in my publishing career has come *directly* from twitter."
It’s hard to disagree with that.
Of course, the reason we even have to discuss alternatives and paths related to Twitter is because billionaires essentially own all our digital public spaces. As Public Citizen said, “Kanye wants to buy Parler. Elon Musk wants to own Twitter. Trump owns Truth Social. Mark Zuckerberg controls Facebook and Instagram. Peter Thiel funds Rumble. It’s never been about free speech. It’s about power. It’s about control. It’s about evading accountability.”
Now Musk owns Twitter. There is no one correct answer or response to this fact and everyone needs to respond in a way that works best for their own personal life and career. Speaking for myself, I plan to stay on Twitter for now and see how things go. I’ll also be exploring a number of the alternatives mentioned above.
I also have to admit I was heartened by what Premee Mohamed said after Musk’s sale was finalized:
i'm not leaving twitter
i'm not trapped in here with muskboi
muskboi is trapped in here with ME
Update: My Genre Grapevine column from November 1st has some additional and updated information on the how people and publications in the SF/F genre are reacting to Musk's purchase of Twitter.