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Bluesky has become a real alternative to X-twitter for LGBTQ people. Transgender World has experienced more than a 50% increase in followers since the US election.
The increasing polarization of American politics have seriously damages some of the most valuable parts of the internet: commons for debate and information sharing. Twitter was, for a time, such a place, used by millions of people across the political spectrum for debate and research.
Not anymore. Twitter was weakened even before Elon Musk took over, but since he became the owner and leader of what is now X, it has devolved a cesspool of hatred and trolling. He intentionally dismissed most of the moderators.
Toxic environment
I gave up debating transgender issues on twitter/X years ago, as it became increasingly clear that nearly all threads regarding gender variance might be taken over by trolls whose goal was not to learn but to win. If you debated on their terms, you soon found yourself lost in a toxic sea of "fake news" and lack of logic.
People have been leaving X-twitter for a long time now. I noticed that serious journalists stopped using twitter in their research. Activists who do not belong to the MAGA-tribe are also much less likely to use twitter for hashtag campaigns intended to raise awareness. Most trans people have stopped using twitter as a place of identity exploration or for finding friends.
Elon Musk has effectively destroyed Twitter, and I’m convinced it was intentional, as his extremist politics do not flourish in open and tolerant arenas for learning.
Note that Musk is a transphobe who has actively been harassing his transgender daughter on twitter, He is that bad.
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| Trans-supporter Jamie Lee Curtis says goodbye to X. |
Where to go?
Here's the problem: Even if there have been alternatives to twitter online, none of them have had the kind of reach that twitter has had when it comes to political and cultural debate.
While many platforms have more users, they do not serve as a commons like Twitter once did.
When LGBTQ individuals and allies have moved to other platforms, they haven’t been able to amplify their voices as effectively as on Twitter.
I believe the era of democratic, open, and tolerant discussion spaces is over, at least in the U.S. Trump and his MAGA activists promote hypermasculine dominance, making constructive debate impossible. Replacing Twitter’s role as an open forum for all is not feasible in that context.
However, it is possible to create a space where LGBTQ people and their allies can discuss trans issues without fear of harassment.
This requires a committed moderation team that enforces rules swiftly and fairly, which encourages a more positive discussion environment.
Enormous growth
Since Trump's victory Bluesky has seen an enormous growth. In September it had 9 million users. Now it boasts over 15 million. Some days it has clocked more than 1 million new members in a day.
An expert told Sky News that Google considers Bluesky to be ten times more significant than Musk’s platform for factual information, despite Bluesky being smaller.
I have been publishing my transgender news curation on both twitter, Bluesky, Mastodon, Threads and Telegram for a while now, and I noticed a huge increase in the number of Bluesky followers in the weeks after the American election. I had around 4000 followers on Bluesky before the election. Now I have 6700 [Nov 20: 7500], and I am getting more than 100 new followers every day.
I gained more followers on Bluesky in two years than in 14 years on Twitter. Even before the election, the LGBTQ community recognized Bluesky as a more meaningful space.
Musk’s support for Trump has shown many queer and trans individuals that Twitter is now hostile territory. For the first time, my Twitter follower count has dropped.
People tell me they feel that Bluesky is the twitter they used to know. That should come as no surprise, as the service was launched by people from twitter. It features a straightforward, algorithm-free timeline without unwanted @elonmusk posts. Advertising may come later, but it isn’t present yet.
I have also noticed that quite a few journalists and media people have signed up for my transgender news feed. This tells me that they are looking for alternative sources of information as far as LGBTQ content goes. I am happy to provide them with that kind of intelligence.
Whether Bluesky will manage to keep all these new members and keep them active, depends on whether the the platform stays safe for marginalized people. If they do not invest enough in content moderation, I am afraid they will fail.
The alternatives
Sometimes what makes the winner is a matter for coincidence and chance. This time celebrity endorsements made the press write about Bluesky, which made it a more visible alternative to many pro-democracy and LGBTQ-friendly people.
Mastodon remains an important twitter-alternative for a lot of active queer and trans people, but I have not seen a significant influx of new followers over there. I suspect that the more complicated system with a large number of alternative servers or "instances" to chose between stops some from signing up.
Meta's Threads serves as a viable Twitter alternative. I saw that when Stephen King finally abandoned twitter last week, he pointed followers to his account over at Threads. The reason it has not managed to benefit much from the fall of civilized twitter is probably because of its association with another US billionaire. Some LGBTQ-accounts have been mistaken for porn producers, and that is not the kind of stress queer and trans people need right now. By the way, Bluesky is much more liberal and tolerant of exploration of the erotic side of life.
Reddit remains a very important place for LGBTQ and trans people. I find, for instance, r/transgender to be a very important source of transgender-relevant news, and there are other subreddits/subforums addressing different aspects of the transgender experience. It is a different platform than twitter, however, and I do not think it can fully replace the old twitter as far as the LGBTQ-debate goes.
So what about the Transgender World twitter account?
I do not see any meaningful future for our twitter-account right now. I stopped using it for debate years ago. Musk's X, unlike Bluesky, severely punishes news feeds by giving them little exposure in the algorithm. There are fewer and fewer members of twitter that is interested in the kind of news we am providing. Moreover, I do not like the idea of providing content to a platform owned by a fascist.
So the only reason I have not turned it off, is that there are still some active transgender follower left, people who do find this content useful. However, this may change soon. Let me know what you think in the comments.
PS1:
Those who see a similarity between the Transgender World butterfly logo and Bluesky's should note that our logo came first and was used first, by us, over at Bluesky. We are not going to sue them 😄
PS2:
We will continue to deadname twitter as long as Musk deadnames his own transgender daughter.
Photo: Giuseppe Lombardo
Save for blog writing, I left social media years ago (I had only a small footprint on Facebook). It is much worse by levels of magnitude today and it just feels like people screaming into the void and the trolls who love to feast on them.
ReplyDeleteMy opinion is we do more with our real world presence and outreach and of course blogs like this one where material is available for consumption.
It's not to say we should not try Bluesky just that I don't think it's the most effective form of outreach and education compared to the others ;).
Real world presence is essential, I agree. I think platforms like Bluesky may be of help to queer and trans people though. First of all it is a place where you can see yourself through the eyes of others and get some emotional and practical support, provided, of course, if Bluesky manage to keep the TERFs and trolls at bay.
ReplyDeleteIt is also a way for bloggers and other content providers to make their stuff known to their target audience. This has become very important now that Google's search quality is going down the drain.
The TERFS and trolls will be part of the territory as they always are. As long as there are rules of engagement and a code of ethics like Twitter had originally. I find it tiresome to argue with bad faith actors who do not seek to understand but simply dilegitimize which is what I find distasteful about those platforms
DeleteMakes sense. A group that refused debate, facts and evidence would want to hide from all of those things and remain in a bubble.
ReplyDeleteHate speech is always the go to excuse for people who cannot win an argument. Being offended cannot tell you the truth of anything. Therefore, the one who speaks the truth has a right to offend.
DeleteHow droll. I discuss this topic with people with a modicum of intelligence who know their subject matter not knuckle-draggers which are plentiful and just want to be contrarians.Thanks for playing though;)
DeleteAnd yet, my argument still stands. Questioning my intelligence doesn't change any of that. Being offended cannot tell you the truth of anything. This is still true, regardless of what you think of me. Deal with the argument at hand.
DeletePlease see below;)
DeleteThis is something that trans people and trans activists like yourself REALLY need to understand. No one, and I do mean NO ONE, has any obligation whatsoever to perceive trans people the way they perceive themselves. Just like you have no obligation to perceive me the way I perceive myself. That means, by its very nature, that every time when a transwoman says: "I'm a real woman." EVERYONE has the goddamn right to tell him: "No, you're not. You're a man." Trans activist's utter refusal to accept this is the reason why they are hated.
ReplyDeleteI don't need to defend my identity to you since i know who I am. You be you and I will be me. I don't argue for any biolgical stance other than the existence and identity of transgender people in general is none of your business. I have enough life and experience and confidence en masse such that I am not easily derailed especially by the ill-informed ;)
DeleteHate reveals a lot about a person. It's basic psychology.
DeleteYour identity is in fact nothing more than how you perceive yourself. That's all an identity really is. How you identify doesn't mean that that's what you are. People misidentify things all the time. What makes you think that how you identify yourself is any different? To claim to be a woman is a claim about objective reality, regardless of how you identify. If you misidentify something, including yourself, people have the right to call you out on it.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI never claimed to be a woman which is clearly coming from you. Please do some reading on the topic as I promise it will help you. Also look into the hatred as it's much better on the blood pressure;)
DeleteTo be concise I am a transgender person with life long and persistent gender dysphoria who has found a very effective way to live. I am universally accepted by friends and acquaintances alike who embrace me. Thus far I have not lost a soul including all women friends who have been the best of all ;)
DeleteYou're using a female name. So it was completely reasonable for me to assume you identify as one. I have no problem with trans as a lifestyle. But that's not what we are really talking about, are we? We are talking about the fact that people can misidentify themselves. When transwomen say they are a real woman, they are in fact incorrect. They are men with a trans lifestyle.
DeleteLifestyle?? Oh wow I had you pegged wrong. I gave you way too much credit. My bad and best of luck. But at least you helped make my point about the uninformed ;)
DeleteYes, it is a lifestyle. It is so by definition. Trans is what one does. Not what one is. Behaving like a woman is also what one does. Not what one is. But, you already know that, don't you? The fact that you give me a pesty remark instead of a counterargument is very telling. You can claim that I helped you making your point about the uninformed. But you actually have to state your point first in order to make it. Let me tell you what I know about you. I know for a fact that everything that you feel, think, say and do are all the end result of electrical and chemical reactions inside your brain. Electrical and chemical reactions that the brain of a man CAN and WILL produce. Therefore, nothing that you will ever think, feel, say or do will make you something different from a man. Your move, kid.
Delete"Your identity is in fact nothing more than how you perceive yourself. That's all an identity really is. How you identify doesn't mean that that's what you are."
DeleteOh dear. You really need to read up on gender incongruence and gender dysphoria, as researched on and described by modern science.
This kind of linguistic sophistry may sound clever to you, but it does not change the fundamental reality of gender dysphoria: It is not something people chose. It is not based on indoctrination. It is not a clever philosophical trick used to "make people trans."
I think very few would chose to gender incongruence if they could stay cis. They cannot.
It is an experienced reality that can only be explained by factors that are at least partly anchored in the brain. It is inborn. And as such a trans woman's female identity is not that different from the one of a cis woman.
I see that a lot of transphobic TERFs and fascists (a bizarre alliance if there ever was one) try to use the traditional understanding of words to invalidate trans women.
ReplyDeletet goes something like this: "I say that a man or a woman is defined by what they have between their legs. Because of this a man cannot be a woman. And therefore any person who say they are not the gender they were assigned at birth are lying or delusional".
This is not a very scientific or philosophical approach to understanding reality. If science finds that traditional language does not capture the reality they see, the scientists have to develop a better language describing what they actually see. And that is what they have done.
Gender incongruence is real. Gender dysphoria is real. Transgender identities are real, and you, dear "Anonymous" is nothing but a bigoted transphobe. I find your stupidity offensive and hateful. I do not want to see you here ever again.