There is no kidding around this time–the implosion of Twitter as we know it is happening right now and Hollywood needs to move on.
For far too long, Twitter has been a major force in promotion of new movies, TV series and specials, and books. Unfortunately, Elon Musk’s new changes this weekend have made it clear that we can no longer depend on Twitter for promotional activities. What good is promoting the newest interview with filmmakers or talent on Twitter when non-verified users are now limited to reading 600 tweets on the platform? That’s not free speech. It’s capitalism–well, it’s more like one more way to put money in Elon’s pocket to read a few thousand more tweets. Elon bought Twitter because of boredom. I can certainly think of better things to do with one’s money. Buying a social media platform and ruining livelihoods while burning it into the ground is not it!
Bluesky may turn out to be the best of the alternative platforms. It is really hard to say at the moment. I’m trying out Spoutible but I basically see the same few people on the platform. Mastodon makes it really hard to find anything. Direct messaging is not the same on the other platforms. We can only hope that one of them will become the new alternative. But until then, all we can do is remember the good times. It is never going to come back. The days of networking over the platform are over in all likelihood.
It is not just Hollywood or journalists being impacted by Elon’s nonsense. Tweet limits may hurt our livelihoods by limiting our reach in a very hurtful way but this new move is one of the single-worst decisions that one man can do because he is such a hateful person. We already know he thinks that cisgender is a slur even though it most certainly is not. Think about the National Weather Service, public transportation, local news, etc. Elon’s ego will force people to no longer see important tweets that could very well save a life. When there are CTA delays in Chicago, I typically depend on the CTA Twitter account to know why. If there’s a thunderstorm or tornado watch or warning, the National Weather Service tweets it out before anyone else.
Movie studios and TV networks need to rethink social media when it comes to press access. With Twitter imploding and new platforms rising, our reach will not be the same. One can have several thousand followers on Twitter while struggling to rebuild the reach on another platform. And yet, our social media numbers play a big role in press access. Membership in a critics group and Rotten Tomatoes can only help so much. What is happening now is really going to hurt smaller outlets. It is especially going to hurt when it comes to interview opportunities. As we move into this new era of social media, may G-d help us all. Rebuilding followers from scratch is not easy.
I don’t know which platform is going to rise out of Twitter’s ashes but it’s time for Hollywood to just move on already. Twitter is never ever going to be the platform that it used to be. It’s done. Gone. Imploded from within.
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