It’s important in that we have to live with the people who use it.
It’s important to you because the people you get your news from are following it.
It’s important to you because which politicians are elected are influenced by what happen on Twitter
It’s important to you because whether your doctor knows about the latest treatments may very well depend on Twitter. (Did I mention that I want to know when data will be published from the medical study I volunteered for, and the answer was “follow us on Twitter”?)
It’s certainly not the only media source that’s important to you (even if you don’t use it directly.) You might have a new playground near your home due to rabble-rousing on NextDoor, and your local tax increase may have been voted up or down based on Facebook campaigns. And Facebook probably has more influence over how people vote than Twitter does. But a lot of industry leaders (in a lot of industries, including insurance) are active on Twitter, and are influenced by what they see there.
So yeah, if you are American, I think Twitter matters to you. Probably true for people in most other countries, too.
Why do people think this? I don’t get it.
Less censorship is a liberal idea.
1 Like
um, you left out my very next sentence. It was a riff on “the king is dead, long live the king”. I think twitter will change as a result of this purchase. I don’t yet have a good sense of what the result of that change will be.
4 Likes
I liked it
I guess I’m not American.
1 Like
i think twitter is about as important to america as the washington post. I remember the big hoohaw when bezos bought that
Childhood photo of DTNF
5 Likes
If Twitter didn’t exist, those people will get their news from somewhere else. Just because it’s “convenient” doesn’t make it “important.”
So Twitter has an exaggerated influence on American politics? If Twitter didn’t exist then our government would be extremely different? If so, then I vote to get rid of Twitter!
As it is, I haven’t really seen anything from current politicians (that are supposedly Twitter-influenced) that is ground-breaking different from past politicians (the ones in office before social media was actually a thing). The only real difference I’ve seen is the ability for nut jobs from both sides to have an overly exaggerated voice in American politics. I have yet to see how Twitter counters this.
I don’t want my doctor to change my treatment just because “the latest treatment” was “just released.” Given the time for a “ground-breaking” treatment to go from getting approval to start tests to full medical approval is long enough that my doctor should already be well aware of its existence if it was something of import to me.
Again, convenience of communication does not translate into any level of importance to me in this situation.
As another poster already mentioned, then I guess I’m just not American. But I am a veteran, not that this is important to anyone but myself.
If Twitter goes away, we will, of course, use all the other forms of information out there instead. I don’t anticipate it will go away. I anticipate it will remain an important information source to a lot of people who matter to you.
I think it’s a lot more important than the Washington Post, although there are obviously similarities.
If you happen to be dying of a novel virus, you might care. You might also care that a big study has just been published showing that the diabetes treatment you are on can be improved. If you follow all the major medical journals you will see that, but if you don’t, but follow them on Twitter, you’ll know there’s something to look up.
MedTwitter has been helpful, particularly over the last couple of years.
I’m not exceptional. Never will be.
Thank you for your service
4 Likes
Big “might” in that thar statement (in many of the others in this post). The better question to pursue is “do I care” even in those situations?
Related question: How much trust do I have in my healthcare professionals to stay up on treatments for my ailments? As I said, if there’s “groundbreaking” treatments in the pipeline, I expect my healthcare providers to be aware of them well before they’re approved. I don’t care to know “the instant they’re available.” When my healthcare provider has performed their due diligence, they’ll let me know.
With respect to the pandemic, there was useful activity on MedTwitter ranging from things that were originally anecdotes that became known issues (like blood clots) to “help me find an ICU bed to transfer my patient to.”
2 Likes
Yes, and in many cases Twitter facilitates that. It’s an important news conduit at the moment.
1 Like
Like at the church on Sunday morning.
1 Like
I think Lucy was implicitly suggesting Trump was elected because of Twitter. Which is a good question I think. He is basically a social media troll. Would we have elected a social media troll without social media?
(or more broadly, does social media increase the power of populist and antagonistic rhetoric?)
The only real difference I’ve seen is the ability for nut jobs from both sides to have an overly exaggerated voice in American politics. I have yet to see how Twitter counters this.
And here I think you’re getting it completely backwards. It’s not that Twitter counters this problem. Twitter causes this problem.
Again, convenience <> importance.