Why it’s time to finally move X to the X Files
It’s not a huge effort. I logged on this morning for the first time since the 2024 Olympics, I had to reset my password, as I couldn’t recall it. Even in 2024, I hardly used it, posting seven times. Following Elon Musk’s purchase in 2023, I made the decision to move my ramblings to ‘Threads’ with the hope that it would fill the Twitter-size hole left in my life, because there was a time that Twitter was a huge part of my life.
I first joined in February 2009, and I found a community that I loved. I conversed, I communed, I ‘Tweet-seated’ and opined. I made connections that have stood to this day. I happened upon a place I truly enjoyed. It travelled all over the world with me from red eye flights to the UK and through Europe, to the US, to China via VPN, we were hand in wing, every day. Appointment to view major TV moments were set against the background of my ‘hilarious’ Tweets. Long before Instagram, TikTok and the rise of the influencer, I created content for Twitter and did brand takeovers to ‘live Tweet’ viewing, such as the World Cup, St. Patrick’s Festival and the Late Late Toy Show, the most joyous night on old school Twitter. At my peak, I had around 10,000 followers; tiny by today’s Instagram standards, but back in the day, my audience was highly engaged, fun, challenging and gas craic. It’s not that place anymore and it hasn’t been for a long time.
What originated from Jack Dorsey as a way to share short SMS style messages has devolved into a platform full of toxic content with little to no moderation and alarming concerns over user’s data privacy. The rise of the AI service, Grok, and the exploitation of largely women and children makes me feel physically sick.
Setting up my Twitter account coincided with the launch of Harris PR in 2009, and for many years, I communicated the mission and values of the business through my personal account. In 2021 we moved to set up separate social channels for Harris PR, the business and team were expanding, and it was time to separate the personal from the professional. When I examine my values, and the values of my business, not only do we no longer align, but over the last 17 years, we have moved to opposite ends of the spectrum. When I polled our team on their views on the future role of X for Harris PR, everyone, overwhelmingly voted to shut down the account, myself included.
I remember when the biggest Twitter outrage was whether or not they should increase the character count, or allow users to edit Tweets. Now it’s a toxic, hell hole filled with hatred, bile and bots. There’s no place for us there. So today we move to shut down our accounts on X, the app formerly known as Twitter. There’s no regret in this decision, only sadness that we’re witnessing this devolution in real-time.
I talk a lot about the importance of transparency in media and our reliance on trusted news sources and honest reporting from professional journalists who truly understand the impact of their words. So, I urge you to invest your time, energy and any money you have into platforms that report what’s really happening in this world. Stay informed, be respectful of other’s opinions and please shut down your X account.
