How many DU-ers follow Twitter?

[ailsagirl]

When I go there and check out the latest, I go away feeling pretty damn anxious. Of course there’s a ton of bad stuff going on but somehow it seems more frightening over there.

Thoughts?

[seta1950]

1. It is more frightening

I am on Twitter too but I can never be on too long , there are too many crazies

[OhNo-Really]

2. I do & work hard fighting disinformation

We can’t afford to lose the twitter war. I’m not physically able to fight otherwise

Fighting the linden killed Trumps insulin savings EO”

In fact

Trump says he brought down the cost of insulin. But that’s not true for all Americans

But Anne Swerlick, a senior policy analyst at the Florida Policy Institute, said the insulin cap was mostly just “political theatre,”

https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/10/01/trump-says-he-brought-down-the-cost-of-insulin-but-thats-not-true-for-all-americans/

[Catcar]

3. No Twitter for me.

[Arkansas Granny]

4. I follow people on Twitter whose news reporting or insight I trust.

There is a lot of good analysis and background info, but you have to consider the source. There's also a lot of misinformation and incendiary comments, as well.

[jmbar2]

5. I follow a narrow range of sources that are very reliable

I usually start with Lauferlaw, and then follow the folks he retweets. They tend to be very reliable and informative about legal issues. Teri Kanefield is good. She's a law professor and explainer of political and legal issues.

Also, various scientists and experts in fields of interest to me.

[Rhiannon12866]

16. Same here, like my senators from NY or MSNBC hosts

And numerous Democratic members of Congress that I've seen posted on DU. And Steve Schmidt.

[Aussie105]

6. Twitter feeds on your fears and insecurities.

It strives to amplify them, to make them worse, in short . . .

Fears and insecurities are the fuel that Twitter runs on.
It actively encourages all sort of anti-social behavior.
Cranks up your anxiety levels.

Best on your 'do not visit' list.

[Liberty Belle]

7. I use Twitter regularly but selectively.

As a journalist, I choose to follow things like our county office of emergency services, Cal Fire, the local police and fire departments, the local weather service, Caltrans, etc. to be sure I know about actual emergencies.

I also follow a few news outlets I trust as well as our local members of Congress.

But you can tailor who you follow based on your interests. If you want celebrity gossip, music or gardening news, you can find it.

You can also search Twitter when looking for news on some breaking event whether its the inauguration, impeachment, or a natural disaster anywhere.

[ailsagirl]

8. "Selectively" is the word

Thank you for your input 👏🏽

[ailsagirl]

9. Thank you everyone!!

This has been very helpful!

[RainCaster]

10. I follow the GOP crazies...

Like Leningrad Lindsey, Greene, Boeboert, and the Trump spawn.
It is a dismal experience, because these assholes are without souls. But it is fun to point out their lesser qualities.

[TexasLefty29]

12. It didn't occur to me -

- that many of you guys also intentionally refrain from taking in data/knowledge/“news” from Twitter. I don’t know where you guys are on life’s journeys, but I’m an early nineties baby - I can reflect now on why when my mom first got us AOL, her username had “Forum” at the end. Never knew what that meant before ☺️ - I guess it’s something about the crowd that site draws... I never enjoyed that it encouraged fragmented thoughts and sentences.

[Thekaspervote]

13. I block anyone who is RW crazy. Blocking ppl slams down others seeing your posts

I could care less! By doing this, and following others I really like reduces a lot of the noise

[denbot]

14. I have a Twitter account, but for the most part I only retweet.

Lots of funny stuff there.

[Duppers]

18. Same here....

I *only* retweet and only political content.

(And use my real name too, so my repub neighbors can know where I stand if they do a search. )

[steve2470]

15. I follow it, and do the love sign and retweets regularly

I see it as my very tiny part in promoting truth, democracy and sane policies. I don't read the nonsense from the GOP and their idiots unless I'm forced to. When it gets a tad overwhelming, I just take a break for 24 hours.

[Denzil_DC]

17. I've had an account for a year or so, but never tweet.

As far as the rest of Twitter's concerned, I practically don't exist except for the occasional vote on a poll, or posts I report for various reasons. I don't follow any accounts, and I have no followers. I know me and social media from past experience, and I'm wary of being sucked into being over-involved, or worse.

I joined because I use it quite a lot for following news etc., and having an account gives me more control over what I do and don't see.

It lets me set up lists of accounts I find trustworthy or interesting or amusing in certain fields, which makes the experience more efficient than trawling individual accounts or hashtags, which can be very time-consuming or overwhelming.

Being able to mute accounts gives me an easy outlet if something annoys me (I very seldom block) and forewarns me that I had some reason to do so in the past (reasons vary from being trolls to being annoying to being boring to being plain wrong to being downright disgusting), but I can still read the muted posts if I choose to.

It's just a tool. If you have an account, you can use its features to make your time on Twitter less anxiety-inducing.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

19. It has seemed to quiet down a bit with tRump gone.

But that could just be my feed....

[LeftInTX]

20. I usually just follow twitter links from here on on news articles or when there is big news

Otherwise, I find it too crazy for my time. It's a good place to get info, but I don't spend much time there. We do chase our representatives when there is a vote. It's good for breaking news, but I don't spend time there looking for breaking news..if you know what I mean.

[MrScorpio]

21. I'm there. You can follow me.

https://twitter.com/Mr_Scorpio

[Marius25]

22. I'm pretty active on twitter.

It's actually been nicer since Trump and a lot of Qanon was banned. Still has a lot of issues, but there has been a definite drop in disinformation.