Read to the end for a post about making friends at the movies.

Happy Tuesday, everyone. Let's get to it.

There is nothing more telling about the state of Twitter than people adamantly stating they are not paying for its Twitter Blue service. It's almost as if having that blue check is like The Stink. Once it's on you, it's impossible to wash off.

It's rare to have people declare their non-use of something in order to maintain a level of credibility. Brands can become toxic for one reason or another. For many years it was creatives using the Mac and making sure others knew they were not using Windows. The Fyre Festival was another debacle celebrities quickly stepped back from endorsing.

Even now you have the FTX Crypto industry fallout. Celebrities who endorsed crypto and, specifically, FTX now look like baffoons caught up in yet another failure of "the next big thing". And like every other failed association, people are quick to put their hands up and shout "Not it!"

What gets me about this Twitter stupidity is how Elon Musk could have easily kept things going and made bold choices to enhance a well-established service. Instead of pushing people away, he could have tried to welcome people in, enhance reporting tools, and make Twitter better than Jack Dorsey ever could have.

Instead, he used a hammer in lieu of a screwdriver, and what we now have: a shell of a social media company no longer resonating with its userbase, more overrun with Elon's ardent defenders daily, and rolling out shoot-from-the-hip changes guided by the impulses of a 12-year-old. I said for years that Twitter's strength is the real-time dissemination of information. For news, safety alerts, and immediate spreading of potentially life-saving info, Twitter was the place for it to happen. THAT was what amazed me.

The "live blogging" methods websites used to cover Apple keynotes and other industry events would coincide with the same outlets tweeting about it. Sharknado was Sharknado because of Twitter. You can follow along with sporting events in progress. You can be in the know right now because companies bought into this idea. Invest time (and a person) to cover events live and Twitter would bring you new followers. And like many other parts of the internet, those days are gone. Maybe not the events themselves but the fun and community that surrounded them.

I declared on Twitter I was done and it's now April and I do not regret that decision. Social media was supposed to be a place that allowed us to enjoy random chats and share silly memes and simply have fun. Elon may have ruined it for everyone, but that's okay. I'd rather move on than hang out at a place designed to drain my mental energy.

I hope you have a great week.

-Aaron

PS: If you enjoy TimeMachiner please forward this email to a friend. It would mean a lot. Thank you. 😊

TODAY'S RANDOM FACTOID

Sharks lived on Earth before trees. Source