Rethinking How The Information I Write About Gets To My Readers

When I publish new content here on 21st Century Tech Blog, it also appears on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. But I am uncertain for how much longer I am willing to use social media sites considering how some have become avenues for the spread of lies, bigotry, hatred, and more. The recent acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk is just one case in point.

Today Musk told his Twitter followers to vote Republican in the U.S. mid-term elections. This is an unprecedented use of social media by an owner. It smacks of efforts made by newspapers and other media that use editorial pages to influence voters.

When I first joined social media sites I saw them as serving the global community by breaking down barriers between cultures and nations. But now social media is putting up walls creating communities that think and act the same, and that have no interest in understanding different points of view, or for that matter real facts and science.

It was troubling enough to watch how Facebook in its popularity became a platform for the spread of disinformation in the pursuit of “likes.” But now Twitter is to be dominated by its owner who has more than 100 million followers, and who through his bully pulpit can spread the gospel of Elon Musk to almost 400 million monthly users. Americans are familiar with Twitter with the latest social media polling showing that 90% name it when asked about the various online apps available to them.

I’m Canadian. When I joined Twitter at its outset, I did it to:

• share information on subjects of interest to me that would equally interest others.
• interact with people interested in the same subjects that interest me.
• promote my blog content to audiences beyond those who are subscribers to my site.
• follow other Twitter users who were writing about similar subjects.
• learn about subjects I knew little about.
• engage in relevant online conversations on areas and subjects of interest to my blog readers.

Don’t get me wrong about Elon Musk. I’d admire his pluck. I admire his vision as a technology disruptor with electric vehicles, renewable energy, satellite Internet, and reusable rockets.

But I don’t admire his use of his newly acquired toy, Twitter. He said he was buying it to ensure it would remain true to the free exchange of ideas through Tweets. But the Tweet he sent out today although fulfilling the free exchange of ideas appears to be entirely partisan and self-serving.

So what did MuskTweet?

“To independent-minded voters: Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic.”

How honest is this statement? As the current richest person in the world, his self-interest lies with a Republican Party which preaches tax reductions for the rich. Hiding behind a nobler purpose is balderdash.

So what’s next in the social media influencer game?

Will TikTok’s Chinese owners tell its subscribers for whom to vote in U.S. or Canadian elections?

Will the CEO of Microsoft soon tell LinkedIn subscribers for whom they should cast their ballots?

Will Mark Zuckerberg on Instagram and Facebook do the same?

Elon Musk is a new William Randolph Hearst (some say the inspiration for the lead character in the movie “Citizen Kane”) who in his storied career acquired hundreds of newspapers and used their staff and editorial pages to spread “yellow journalism.”

Yellow journalism was never about the truth. Hearst publications under his leadership were the equal of today’s National Enquirer and other so-called newspapers that get displayed in racks at checkout lines at your local supermarket. Hearst papers featured lurid headlines and “alternate facts,” a term we were introduced to recently through the spokespeople associated with Donald Trump.

So that’s why I am wrestling with what to do about my social media presence. I don’t want to lose readers who come to my blog site through social media links. But at the same time, I am realizing that social media has lost its way and no longer positively serves humanity. So I ask readers who find me through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, to subscribe directly to 21st Century Tech Blog which is free while I determine whether to end my social media engagements.