Hey, there! Log in / Register
Wu stops posting to her personal Twitter account
By adamg on Fri, 01/13/2023 - 11:37am
It's become too toxic a platform to keep wutrain going, she tells CommonWealth Magazine. Her official mayoral feed, however, will continue.
Neighborhoods:
Topics:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Most all social media
platforms have become more and more toxic over the years. It's really sad.
Even posts here can get heated. Social media is supposed to bring people together to share their lives with friends and loved ones, but it has become inundated with hatred, much of it for the purpose of political dividing of the citizens of this and other nations. Brazil copying our J6th, stemming from rants on social media there just as it happened here before J6.
Many government agencies are banning TikTok from their use for fear of spyware installed by the Japanese. Mayor Wu has to keep her official mayoral Twitter account active, but I applaud her for dumping her personal account.
TikTok
Chinese?
What? Over? Did you say 'over'?
Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!...
It ain't over now, 'cause when the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'. Who's with me? Let's go! Come on!...
You're on a roll
.
I can't blame her
She's become a target on there to the magats that have nothing better to do than to reply and argue with people all day. (not that I am much better but..)
But I tell you, if you reply to her, you are about 99% likely some magat will reply to you and start to argue with you. Its like they have notifications turned on her for account and reply within seconds after she does.
But its not just her account, its a lot of people's accounts that are targets now. Several people I had unfollow because the replies below their tweets were just so bad.
Many big newsie and celeb people are now like this, forget about replying or retweeting anything. You'll just be attacked. (Alyssa Milano being one, along with Aaron Rupar)
And I wont even talk about the politicians who are now getting death threats in replies. Yet Elian Mask doesn't seem to care or want to do anything about it.
SO yeah I can't blame Michelle. I'm close to leaving twitter myself, getting tired of the viritrol on there. But like a car crash, you can't help but stop, slowdown, and look.
Which is why I'm on Mastodon now
Haven't been on Twitter since EM sicced his followers on a queer Jewish ex-employee, with predictable results. While I don't like the interface and functionality as much as the bird site, the instance I'm on is much pleasanter.
I don’t know how they do it
I think for twitter they just need to only have people they follow comment/respond. Seems to be the only way..
You make it work
Turning off replies right after you tweet helps alot. But even I can't help by look again because you know.. I'm sadistic I guess.
I follow a few viralogists on twitter (who are legit ones!) and they turn off replies on everything now. I can't say I blame them.
But I am with you, I don't know how some of these folks with 100k+ followers do it. I know many are inactive accounts or bots, but even still. Thousands of replies in an hour.
Some people have a thicker skin I think than I do to turn their nose at it.
Magoo sez
Magoo endeavors to bring an itsybitsy slice of sunshine, or “Magooshine” if you will, into this itsybitsy corner of the interwebs. Magoo.
I've heard she is being groomed to replace Elizabeth Warren
So she can't have anything too damaging out there, and the way things are going with the BPS there are lot's of people that want her held accountable and that avenue is one more way to facilitate that :(
Riiiiiiight
.....
I think you're confusing terminology
"shit-talking responses on Twitter" does not equal accountability.
You win...
...the prize for dumbest take ever.
Groomed?
Ah, thank you for giving evidence of the problem.
Weak
This is not a good look for someone who is supposed to be a leader of people. What, because someone called you a communist? Some racist jackass said something racist? Or because some of your constituents don’t think you’re doing a good job?
So the solution is to close down avenues of communicating publicly where people can respond? Or perhaps an increase in censorship?
Scrolling through her Twitter account, most of the comments are in support of what she posts. I prefer someone with a stronger spine to be a leader of people, not those who simply run or shut down at the first sign of dissent.
Huh?
Twitter is a fairly new thing. People can communicate with her the traditional way: Emails, calls, and letters.
Sadly you can't reach her by email, or phone.
There is a form to submit to contact her office her aides review in place of being able to email her, her phone number isn't public and maybe you can still approach her at an event. I'm not confident she would read a letter herself either. I get it that she's busy. But twitter was a direct line of communication to her that others could also see the response so it could be a really powerful communication tool. Full disclosure I'm not active on Twitter.
I first met her about 7 years ago at her rally at a restaraunt and their was probably 25 people there, she was a city Councilor or running to become one. She's risen up the ranks quickly, possibly too fast!
Sadly you can't reach her by email, or phone.
There is a form to submit to contact her office her aides review in place of being able to email her, her phone number isn't public and maybe you can still approach her at an event. I'm not confident she would read a letter herself either. I get it that she's busy. But twitter was a direct line of communication to her that others could also see the response so it could be a really powerful communication tool. Full disclosure I'm not active on Twitter.
I first met her about 7 years ago at her rally at a restaraunt and their was probably 25 people there, she was a city Councilor or running to become one. She's risen up the ranks quickly, possibly too fast!
Why waste time on an ineffective communication tool?
You seem to be arguing that she should do something to communicate even though it doesn't work. Perhaps she should also establish a messenger pigeon program, just to avoid giving up on that technology? Or maybe, instead, she should focus on what is working. There are plenty of good ways to communicate with the public that don't devolve in to crass ugliness. Twitter just isn't one of them.
what other options for her to communicate are out there
I'm not a big fan of Twitter, but not aware of other platforms so please suggest some other options?
You could visit her home
Seriously, though, there's 311 in it's many forms, which is technically a part of the Mayor's Office. E-mail [email protected]. 617-635-4500. You could break out pen and paper and write to her at 1 City Hall Square, Suite 500, Boston, MA 02201.
By now everyone knows about the fall of Monica Cannon-Grant, but let's not forget she got her start by basically camping out at the mayor's office because she was upset that murder cases weren't being solved in Boston. That got Walsh's attention. Of course, she didn't sit there yelling insults at the mayor over a bullhorn, so civility helps.
how about her mayoral twitter account
that is remaining open, as the post says. She's closed her personal one, which she has the right to do. You don't have the right to contact her on anything but her official account, which is remaining open. So you're complaining about a problem that doesn't exist in order to help justify how you already feel about her. I'm sure you have extremely important and helpful things to share too. You just can't contact her on her personal account since she keeps getting death threats on it (along with people agreeing with her).
Lots of politicians on Twitter
Few of them cower like this…
She can communicate any way she prefers. However, when you decide to communicate in a way where the public can actually respond for others to see, and then run away from it to places where the public cannot actually respond in a forum, you might as well just be a dictator.
Shutting down one’s personal
Shutting down one’s personal Twitter feed is akin to being a dictator.
Riiiiiight.
Yup
Akin means similar in nature. A dictator avoids being subjected to public comments and limits where such comments can take place. So it is actually quite similar.
Not being allowed to
Not being allowed to cyberbully the mayor does not equal censorship, but given that the rest of your comment is also 100% bullshit, I don't particularly expect you to internalize that fact.
Elaborate
I described the reality of the situation. You’ll have to do better than simply saying bullshit.
If you can’t handle comments from the public, don’t run for public office. Or…use avenues of communication where the public cannot respond, similar to Putin.
Cyber bullies? Please. She’s a grown woman who is the mayor. Why are you infantilizing her?
Show me where
personally using Twitter is a requirement for public office.
Or show me where she said someone person was mean to her and that's why she stopped using her personal Twitter? Her reasoning, in her own words, in the linked article would suggest it was not that but rather the state of the platform itself. In fact, it seems like for quite some time, she leaned into critical commentary on Twitter, rather than running away at the first sign on trouble, as you suggested above.
It’s not a requirement
She made that bed. And you’re likely correct that she used to engage more with people commenting, either positive or negative. It’s very telling what politicians do or say in their campaigns compared to what they do while they’re in office.
What she should’ve said is that despite those spewing vitriol, she stands by everything she says publicly. That would rally support and strength from those who think she’s a good mayor. Running away from Twitter or any area with public comments that she doesn’t like only makes her look weak and gives those who are commenting more validity, real or not.
"Running away from Twitter or any area with public comments..."
Can we once and for all put aside the propaganda that Twitter is a site for "public comments"? It's simply not true, and until the government takes over ownership and management Twitter will be what it always has been: a private site where the motive is profit. Wu has absolutely no obligation to be on Twitter, and Twitter is not the public square, any more than Star Market is.
Um….
The government was already pulling strings at Twitter. You want government to control and censor speech and public comments? You think government control of what can be said in person or online is better than private companies attempting to make a profit? This is what they do in China and Russia. Why would you want that here?
https://www.cnbctv18.com/technology/twitter-files-elon-musk-says-us-agen...
https://nypost.com/2023/01/13/twitter-files-adam-schiff-dems-pushed-to-c...
You have always
been a troll. Your modus operandi, since you have begun to try to foment controversy on this site, has been to deflect, say something controversial, and to pretend you've done research. QAnon logic indeed.
I have done the research
I try to include links from various sources to prove I am not just making something up. You and some others posting here say this is being a troll. The fact is, if I did the same thing with something you agreed with or want to be true, then you’d be applauding. You are clearly looking for an echo chamber where you only hear your own misconstrued thoughts. I am not trying to foment controversy and you seeing a comment you don’t like as such is something you’ll have to figure out for yourself.
You say you want the government to control Twitter. Why? Because people say things you don’t like regardless of the truth? If you’ve been paying any attention, you would know that the government had already been influencing what was being posted, amplified, and deamplified on Twitter for years now. The emails have been made public.
All I did was say this looked weak coming from the person who is supposed to be the leader of the city and that closing channels of communication is bad for everyone other than the mayor. The only way this can be seen as controversial is if you are blindly supporting a politician or political party.
Show me
where I said "[I] say [I] want the government to control Twitter." You can't, because that is precisely what I did not say. You need to learn some respect for people, because there are real people on the other side of this imaginary screen your assumptions or your biases or strategic intentions project, troll.
Here
“Can we once and for all put aside the propaganda that Twitter is a site for "public comments"? It's simply not true, and until the government takes over ownership and management Twitter will be what it always has been: a private site where the motive is profit.”
So you’re not advocating for the government takeover of Twitter with this statement? It really sounds that way. Sorry for the mix up. Glad to hear you don’t want the government running social media platforms.
I will not have to do better
I will not have to do better than saying bullshit, because saying that you are full of bullshit is an entirely accurate statement.
You need a direct line to her personal Twitter?
Why? The official mayoral account is still going. You can email, too.
If you absolutely need to contact her *personal* account, she has moved over to Mastodon. So try there instead.
I don’t need to contact her
If I did, I’d probably email as you said. But we all know that most always just goes to an aide at best and it certainly isn’t shown to the public. Why are you against a public forum? You’d rather have an echo chamber? Or live in Plato’s cave?
Sweet jesus
You've referenced censorship, Putin, echo chambers, and Plato's cave over a personal social media account that predates Michelle Wu's political career. As others have noted, she's maintaining her mayoral office's twitter account, so everyone can still type all-caps racist shit at her there and none of this imaginary downfall of civilization crap that you're spewing is actually an issue.
Well said
n/t
If you don't need to contact her, why are you so upset?
And if you need a public forum, there's:
- Her mayoral Twitter account
- Her personal Mastodon account
I'm really struggling here to see any kind of problem.
If you want to complain that Elon Musk is actively destroying a public forum, I'd be right with you, though!
Do you need to ask?
Do you need to ask?
This is entirely on brand for this poster.
Born yesterday?
The supposed ability to communicate directly, and perhaps the greater point, for others to see the communication is relatively brand spanking new. It did not exist until the beast called the internet and web came into creation.
What reason is there for believing that she even read every post on her personal Twit feed? In other words there is no basis for thinking that communication was actually happening.
Is the real basis of the complaint this: That a forum where it could be assumed that other people would read the comments is not longer available.? In other words, the complaint is not about being denied a supposed direct vehicle for communication. The real complaint is not perceiving that others are reading whatever is posted?
Also, the official mayor's account is still open? So complaining about the closing the person account has not real world basis. On the other hand it does provide an excuse for implicit propaganda and lies in whining about stronger spine and first sign of dissent.
Let’s sic
The Turtle Boy contingent on you for completely fabricated “controversy” that they will incessantly and unrelentlessly post on everything you say and see how long it'd take for you to change your tune.
Twitter has "become" toxic?
I mean, the nature of the platform, while well meaning, lends itself to toxicity. You can pretty much anonymously send messages to people who don't know you. What can go wrong? As far is it "becoming," what was the state of the platform, say, 5 years ago?
And yes, there is an upside to the platform, like @311, but I don't know how famous people deal with whatever comes their way.
Maybe she quit because she
Maybe she quit because she found out today that the Twitter Russian bot story was a hoax.
Will hurt a reelection campaign
Campaign supporters also want a medium of communication and engagement.
You know, ward and precinct coordinators, donors, and voters want to follow and be followed, get likes for their replies, or whatever
So...
...is the sound I hear crocodile tears dripping, or pearls being clutched?
So
all that matters is Twitter?