Twitter Failure

On Friday, November 25, 2022, I sent my last message on Twitter:

As soon as I clicked Send, I went into my profile and deactivated my account. There was no waiting until Wednesday. I also removed the app from my smartphone and closed the tabs that were always open on my Web browsers.

In retrospect, I should have waited a couple more days to close my account because I had written a blog post, that Monday, dedicated to my followers, with information about how they could find me, on Mastodon, should they also make the change away from Musk's social media platform.

I should have given them the link to the blog post, after it was published, before shutting the tap off from Twitter.

A few weeks ago, a friend from Twitter, Jill, who also has an account on Mastodon, reached out and asked me if I had received a direct message that she had sent me on Twitter. I told her that I had deactivated my account more than a couple of months, previously, but that she could contact me with a text if she needed to send me a private message (she became more than a Twitter acquaintance in the time we had known each other and had my other contact details).

But something at the back of my brain raised a flag. How could Jill have sent me a DM if my account has been deactivated? I wondered if my account had actually been closed down or if it was still active.

Of course, at the time, I didn't have the inclination to investigate, so I put the thought out of my head.

Last week, I saw that someone else, who I had followed on Twitter, was now also on Mastodon. I followed him right away and started looking at his timeline to see what I had missed over the past few months. I saw that he had some links to posts from his Twitter account, so out of curiosity, I clicked one of the links.

I saw what he had tweeted but Twitter was also asking me to either log on to my existing account or open one. For fun, I tried logging on to my old account and to my surprise, the account was still open.

I found Jill's DM and one from another follower, plus 15 other unread notifications, including some that told me I had new followers. I had actually gained followers in my three-month's absence.

I tweeted the following message:

Apparently, since Musk has taken over Twitter, he can't even close a deactivated account anymore. I went into my profile settings and, once again, went through the steps to deactivate my account. I received a message that the account would remain accessible, should I change my mind or if I've deactivated it in error.

Time will tell.

In the meantime, I'm lurking, looking for the peeps I've missed, scrolling past the negative posts that have been promoted or shared. I saw an old Twitter friend post a selfie and I clicked the Like button. I even shared my blog post of the day, just to make some use of my account.

To be clear, I'm not returning to Twitter.

In just five minutes on my Twitter timeline, I felt anxious. I had to close the tab on my browser and return to my Mastodon feed, which is a source of positivity and joy. For all the people I saw and whose posts made me smile, there was at least one post that had me shaking my head.

I can't understand why my old peeps are staying on Twitter. And though many have opened an account on Mastodon, there are those who don't seem to use it. I see them in my follow list but I don't see any activity.

I miss you, folks, and wish you would share your joy where I can see you.

When I left Twitter, I thought that there was no looking back. If my account remains open, despite my attempts to deactivate it, twice, it may be a tool that I look at only once and awhile, much like how I use my Facebook account, which gets my attention once every month or three.

Maybe.