Twitter users are flocking to Mastodon after Musk takeover The decentralized messenger platform has already attracted 25,000 users
For a brief moment this week, the whole internet went berserk.
On Tuesday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced that he was turning off the company’s direct messages feature that had been in the service since 2010 because it wasn’t “directly benefiting everyone.” That same day, Google announced Google+ integration for Facebook Messenger, allowing users to send messages directly to each other.
And then, in what was essentially a blunder of gargantuan proportions, Twitter also announced that it too would be working with Facebook. The goal, Twitter said, was to “strengthen and expand the sharing, conversation and integration capabilities of both products.”
This, as it turned out, was a mistake. In just the week since Dorsey’s announcement, Twitter had become a one-third global leader in users of its “Direct Message” feature. It had also become one of the most popular messaging platforms in the world — which, as it turns out, is a good thing, as a recent report by research firm eMarketer notes:
Users are increasingly likely to use services like Twitter, Facebook Messenger, Spotify and Google+ to communicate with one another, creating opportunities for cross-platform, cross-service, cross-industry experiences.
More importantly, Twitter’s new integration with Facebook has already become a major talking point for the company as it continues to fight to compete with Facebook’s massive power. And while Facebook has been criticized for how it handles its user data — particularly in terms of how its platform has been used to discriminate against minority communities — even some of its biggest critics have said Twitter’s integration with Facebook is a step in the right direction.
“I think this is in the best interests of Twitter,” said Twitter CEO Jack Poulson during a conference call with Wall Street analysts. “This is in the best interest of the whole Internet.”
But for anyone using Twitter to communicate, rather than to simply receive alerts when a trending hashtag is about to explode, Poulson’s statement seems more like a hollow platitude.
It’s a phrase we’ve never really heard from Twitter before, but its apparent acceptance of Facebook’s push represents a huge step forward for the
