Newsy Twitter Threads Way To Immortality?

Holman Jenkins postulates "secret target of Facebook’s Twitter clone” is Elon’s personal finances. So what if it is? Isn’t real “threads” tying Musk’s financial gamble to his “giant sink hole” about “Everyman” fielding news for the love of the game?

The WSJ columnist begins by asking why would ANYONE want to “bother” buying into Twitter (or, in Zuck’s case, “roll out a copycat service resembling Twitter) since it’s “made virtually no money in its entire existence”? Holman suggests trying to find the answer by searching for monetizing schemes probably will continue to be fruitless because of the very nature of a news & opinion-based platform like Twitter. “Twitter’s true redeeming value, as far as I can see,” Holman says by way of answering his own Q, “lies in a handful of thinkers & experts who voluntarily share their knowledge & wisdom on the world’s important continuing stories. Covid was the story that originally had me making more time in my day for Twitter. The Ukraine war lately is another.”

Hey, Holman, don’t forget the recent elections & political chaos following each? He continues: “If Twitter ceased to be an efficient & attractive way for these people to share their thoughts, it would be a loss to the world even if 99.9% of the traffic on the platform consists of people being jerks to each other.” Agreed, as far as it goes. But, also lost would be the millions of opinions expressed by us lowly minions. Our thoughts, too, have intrinsic value, no matter how dopy they seem to the “experts”. Perhaps George Bailey said it best: “Just remember this, Mr. [Jenkins], that this rabble you’re talking about, they do most of the working & paying & living & dying” [in this country]. Well, is it too much to have them work & pay & live & die” with access to a decent, if imperfect, social media platform? As for me, I’m sailing with Twitter (&, hopefully, so will Elon) because I’m one of those thinkers who don’t want to platform (s)hop to read my own opinion in an echo chamber. I, we, write to share our love of the news, the history it makes, the consequences it brings us.

Davd Soul