Wednesday, May 8, 2024

Adam Conover explains 'Why We’re Still Trapped on Twitter' for Wayback Wednesday

Happy Wayback Wednesday! I'm looking back at the year on Twitter with Adam Conover explaining Why We’re Still Trapped on Twitter.

It's no secret that Elon Musk has absolutely tanked Twitter, so why haven't we all left? Despite the site becoming an apocalyptic hellscape, there's a surprising reason that we all still NEED Twitter.
Welcome to network effects.

Adam mentioned Elon Musk Is An Idiot (and so are Zuck and SBF), I'm sharing it as well.



Tech CEOs aren't geniuses, and here's the proof.

Years ago, I was thinking of writing about Elon Musk as a Crazy Eddie, but I never did. Now I'm glad I didn't. That post wouldn't have aged well.

I conclude this part of the post with something positive about Twitter, Black Twitter: A People's History | Official Trailer | Hulu.

Based on Jason Parham’s WIRED article “A People’s History of Black Twitter,” this three-part docuseries charts the rise, the movements, the voices and the memes that made Black Twitter an influential and dominant force in nearly every aspect of American political and cultural life.

Steam all episodes Black Twitter: A People's History on May 9, only on Hulu.

ABOUT Black Twitter: A People's History
The rise, movements, voices and memes that made Black Twitter an influential and dominant force in nearly every aspect of American political and cultural life.
Based on just this piece of corporate PR, I fully expect to see this nominated at one of the Emmy Awards, whether it's this falls Creative Arts Emmy Awards or next year's News & Documentary Emmy Awards.

Follow over the jump for a retrospective of Crazy Eddie's Motie News's most active links on Twitter between March 21, 2023 and March 20, 2024.


I tweeted The music of 'Prehistoric Planet 2' earned the series its first Emmy nomination from July 24, 2023 on July 29, 2023 then quote tweeted it. The original was the most active tweet during the blogging year, earning 4,832 impressions (most for blogging year) and 50 total engagements (most for July 2023), including 19 detail expands (most for blogging year), 11 likes, 7 media engagements (most for year), 4 retweets (most), 3 hashtag clicks (most), 3 profile clicks, 2 link clicks, and 2 replies in 1 thread. Its quote tweet earned 2,804 impressions (third most for year) and 34 total engagements, including 16 likes (most for July 2023), 8 detail expands, 4 profile clicks (most for blogging year), 3 link clicks, and 3 replies in 1 thread (most replies for month) including two from one of the composers, Anže Rozman. I'm placing this tweet on my Twitter Hall of Fame right next to Jeff Beal wins the only Emmy for 'House of Cards' this year, which Jeff Beal himself liked, and Laura Karpman liking my tweet praising her work on Ms. Marvel. As I wrote last fall, "I seem to get along best with the composers in Hollywood."

I tweeted and retweeted Projection is the Right's favorite defense mechanism from March 9, 2012 at least sixteen times during the blogging year, making it the most tweeted link between March 21, 2023 and March 20, 2024. It was also the most viewed voerall with 9,406 total impressions. Four of those were the top tweets for a number of statistics. A retweet on April 28, 2023 earned 3 engagements, including 2 link clicks and 1 like, on 3 impressions for a 100% engagement rate (tied for most for year). A tweet on January 14, 2024, earned 5 retweets (most for year on a single tweet). A tweet on February 12, 2024 earned 3,768 impressions (second most for year). A tweet on on March 3, 2024, earned 2 follows (most for blogging year).

It was also a top tweet for several months. An original tweet in April 28, 2023 tied for most link clicks during the month with three. May's tweets were especially productive, as the May 4, 2023 tweet earned 540 impressions (most for May 2023) and 11 engagements (most for May 2023), including 5 link clicks (most for May 2023), 3 detail expands (most for May 2023), 1 quote tweet, 1 like, and 1 reply in 1 thread. The quote tweet on May 22, 2023 earned 323 impressions and 7 engagements, including 3 likes (tied for most for May 2023), 2 link clicks, 1 detail expand, and 1 profile click (tied for most for May 2023). Another tweet on May 25 earned 1 engagement, a reply thread with 5 responses (all by me), on 4 impressions for a 25% engagement rate, tied for highest for May 2023. The January 14, 2024 tweet earned 904 impressions (most on a single tweet during January 2024) and 26 total engagements (most on a single tweet during January 2024), including 11 detail expands (most on a single tweet during January 2024), 7 likes (tied for most on a single tweet during January 2024), 5 retweets (most for year on a single tweet), 2 replies in 2 threads, and 1 profile click. In addition to the February 12, 2024 tweet earning 3,768 impressions (second most for year), it earned 40 total engagements (most during February 2024), including 19 likes (most during February 2024), 11 link clicks (most during February 2024), 6 detail expands (most during February 2024), and 4 retweets (tied for most during February 2024). Finally, the March 3, 2024 tweet, in addition to eliciting 2 follows (most for year), earned 9 media views (most during March 2024), and a 28.6% engagement rate (most during March 2024).

I tweeted My 9-11 story, part 1 from September 11, 2011 on September 10, 2023. It earned 91 engagements (most for year), including 86 link clicks (most for year), 3 profile clicks (most during September 2023), and 2 likes on 1,910 impressions (most during September 2023).

I tweeted Mehdi Hasan takes a deep dive into 'The truth about DeSantis' awful record on covid', a pandemic and primary election update from May 27, 2023 on December 1, 2023 (according to Greenwich Time; it was the evening of 11/30/23 in EST). It earned 650 impressions (most during December 2023) and 53 total engagements (most during December 2023), including 24 likes (most for year), 18 detail expands (most during December 2023), 7 link clicks (most during December 2023), 7 replies in 2 threads (most replies and tied for most threads during December 2023), 1 retweet, and 1 profile click, for an 8.2% engagement rate.

I tweeted CNBC explains 'How Big Oil More Than Doubled Their Profits In 2022' from March 2, 2023 on April 12, 2023, earning 3 engagements, including 2 detail expands and 2 replies in 1 thread, on 3 impressions for a 100% engagement rate (tied for most for year).

I tweeted HBO dramas and 'SNL' split the nominees for Outstanding Short Form Nonfiction or Reality Series at the 2023 Emmy Awards from August 4, 2023, earning 91 impressions and 7 total engagements, including 5 hashtag clicks (most on a single tweet during the year), 17 replies in 1 thread, and 1 like.

I tweeted Videos show the tech in Virginia Tech from October 12, 2013 on January 1, 2024, leading a thread with 32 replies (longest thread of year).

I tweeted The Spartans for a drum corps New Hampshire Primary on January 23, 2024. It earned 51 impressions and 12 total engagements, including 6 replies in 6 threads (most threads for year), 3 link clicks, and 3 detail expands for an engagement rate of 23.5%.

I tweeted Colbert and Meyers return from break to take closer looks at politicians saying stupid things about history and science from January 9, 2024 twice, the first time the same day and the second time on January 17, 2024. The second time earned 332 impressions, 239 media views (most for year), and 17 total engagements, including 6 link clicks, 5 likes, 2 media engagements, 2 profile clicks (tied for most on a single tweet during January 2024), 1 reply, and 1 follow.

I expect next year's Twitter retrospective will be a lot less involved. Twitter analytics stopped reporting a lot of the metrics above halfway through April, a sign of the service degrading that Adam described in his videos. I will be back to where I was before I discovered the analytics, reporting on views, likes, reposts, replies, and maybe total engagements and engagement rate. It will be simpler, but less rich. Sigh.

That's a wrap for this series, which I finished four days earlier than last year. Yay! I will do something else tomorrow for Throwback Thursday, like a serious look back at Trump's hush money trial so far. Stay tuned.

I conclude by recycling It's Wayback 'Wednesday'.

I was working on a post that was going to take too long, so I made this meme instead. I like the idea of Wednesday Addams as a mascot for Wayback Wednesday. I hope my readers do, too.
Previous posts in this series Previous retrospectives about Twitter
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