Sunday 19 November 2023

The final tweets of the week in the London Borough of Barnet - 19th November 2023 - A statement

 I had a couple of emails asking me whether I should be doing this feature, in light of the platform owners behaviour. This has seen large companies such as M&S and BT withdrawing advertising from the brand. The question I have to ask is this. Do I want to promote a company such as "X" which is run by someone who clearly has a very different agenda for his platform to what I happen to believe in. This is something I've thought long and hard about since the ownership was changed. 

I have to be honest, I love many aspects of Twitter, not least it's democracy. Anyone can post a tweet which could go viral and go around the world. I've learned all manner of things and made a few good friends along the way. I block those that I don't want to see and I have always enjoyed doing this feature. 

Since the current owner took the helm, I've found it increasingly difficult to put this together. On occasisons, searches haven't worked. Every move seems to have been misconceived attempts to squeeze more money out of the platform, none of which have made it easier to use or better for the ordinary folk who use it. Some of the changes, charging for blue ticks, limiting searches, making their view of what you want the default, so you see all manner of tweets you are not interested in are infuriating. 

It seems that the platform has lost it's heart and soul. Tweets are no longer tweets. Twitter is no longer twitter. How can you pick "tweets of the week" when there is no such thing as a tweet? I doubt whether Elon Musk gives a flying F**K whether I do this or what I think of his platform. For the time being, I am staying on the platform, but I look at it less and less. I think it is dying on its feet. My wish is that Musk would sell it to someone who understood what it should and could be, rather than seemingly running it as a vanity project. 

Do I want to spend my Sunday morning doing this feature? I don't really think I do. So this is it.

I will finish with a special edition. This weeks pick are the good and bad of local tweeters, which I am retweeting as a final hurrah, with a bit of commentary.

1. I f it hadn't been for the campaign to save the Railway Hotel in Edgware, I may have wrapped this feature up a long time ago. Twitter was an effective campaigning platform for naming and shaming lazy Councillors. A big thanks is due to Cllr Lucy Wakeley, who has stepped up. If the Barnet Tories have any sense, they will find a bigger platform for her talents


2. This had to be said


3. I really feel I had to say this. David is a nice enough bloke, but if he wants to persuade me that he is worthy of my vote, then he'd better do a few less photo ops and a bit more proper campaigning on local issues


4. I will miss the tweets from our local sports clubs


5. And now for the worst of local Twitter. Smart media and PR exec rewriting our local history


6. Yes and Yes


7. I'll miss highlighting some of the amazing pics of our locality


8. I also love finding these sort of gems!


9. I'll miss highlighting the amazing work of our libraries


10. Sad really to end with a scumbag alert, but if it gets my mate John his guitar back, then what better way


That really is all folks, lets end with some music. If you like it, you can see me with The False Dots at the Dublin Castle on Sat 23rd December playing this!

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