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Comment by cloutchaser | Hacker News Reader

How many conservatives are still on Twitter complaining about censorship, rather than using Gettr or Parler or Truth Social?

Network effects are WAY stronger than we think. Also, if you built a following on Twitter over 10-15 years, leaving it is a massive sacrifice.

I wouldn't bet on an actual twitter exodus.

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Except history is littered with dead social networks that were once huge. People said the same thing 'network effects' yet phase shifts happen. Don't just bet on twitter staying twitter.

I think many are getting a fedi account "just in case".

Mastodon is still littered with dead accounts from the last "exodus" so I'm not holding my breath.

I feel like if people truly cared about what you had to say they would seek you out regardless of the platform. Follower numbers are glorified internet points meant to keep you engaged/chained to the platform.

I think this is too simplified. For example, I don't care much for Stephen King(he's a great writer horror just doesn't do anything for me), but I still heard what he has to say on this due to it being posted on twitter. I pay attention because I know he's a significant person. I wouldn't seek him out otherwise, but because he happens to be in my network I pay attention to him even though I don't consume his works.

Without that large network, the only people seeking him out will be fans. There are at least two negatives to that. The audience is smaller, and there's less exposure to non-fans

Yes but how many Twitter accounts are truly in that category?

One former president has kinda sorta managed it, and he was in the news every single day for years. Who else could achieve even his limited level of success? Maybe Barack Obama?

There are countless people who I couldn't enumerate who I might be potentially interested. I don't want them 'recommended' or algorithmically forced on me, but retweets and quote tweets have effectively surfaced their work over time. I absolutely don't want to have to do that again and again across social network. Twitter 'mutuals' aren't like facebook friends. They're a two way asynchronous conversation with a pool of people with varying relationships of wildly different kinds. Many of whom are pseudonymous.

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