In 2025, Twitter is insufficient for event communications.
#deletetwitter means #nevertrump organizers need to update their own websites.
Because I am fascinated by #nevertrump conservatives—those principled heroes of American democracy who realized in 2015 that the Republican electorate who cheered for Sarah Palin also liked what she had to say—I was excited to attend the Principles First convention in Washington, D.C.—I was planning to cosplay as Sean Spicer, or a Gundam, or Sean Spicer in a Gundam. Sadly, the event sold out.
I am salty because I was not warned tickets were “going fast.” I was only checking the Principles First website, not its social media, because I deleted my Twitter account when I got sick of inhabiting President Elon Musk’s ketamine dream (or “k-hole.”)
For a decade, Twitter was at least useful. You did not have to log in; you could check an organization’s feed for updates right from one Google click. But now, the “digital town square” is paywalled and enshittified nuts-to-butt. With no account, you cannot reliably see most of its content. An event or group only posting critical updates to Twitter limits its audience to Mr. Musk’s remaining userbase—not exactly the coalition Principles First is trying to build.
I would not have been the only conference-goer who uninstalled the stupid bird app. Mr. Musk’s bizarre accusation that Bill Kristol defrauded USAID for millions of dollars guarantees that. Nobody publicly anti-MAGA should stay on a platform where shitposting can get them randomly targeted by the world’s richest drug addict and his online goon squad.
Political events or organizations ostensibly opposing authoritarianism cannot be dependent on social media. If event organizers operate as they did in 2015 and assume that Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram posts will reach most attendees, they damage their reach. At this time, I think people have gotten too accustomed to “the old way” of reaching audiences, but in a year, anyone selling tickets and only using Twitter for updates should be condemned as lazy and complicit.
Twitter’s influence shrank and will continuously shrink until President Donald Trump stops being afraid and kicks Mr. Musk to the curb. Among newspaper readers, “#deletetwitter” is the first cry whenever Musk does some evil bullshit, which is often. Instagram, Threads, and The Facebook, less flamboyantly, are experiencing similar user revolt—after Mark Zuckerberg completed his gold-chain MAGA technobro makeover, some people announced they were logging off Meta properties “forever.” There is also an audience who have, at least publicly, “unfollowed” Democratic or #nevertrump-aligned pages fearing potential authoritarian retaliation in the future.
Organizers should ask: “Is Elon Musk necessary to facilitate interactions between us and our audience?” Suppose your event updates, ticket sales, or schedule changes only exist on Twitter. In that case, Mr. Musk gets a “fat sack” of ad revenue from your attendees’ eyeballs when they check the time for a lecture about stopping oligarchal nerds from controlling the nation. Make it make sense!
Post updates on your own website. Maintain an e-mail list. For America’s sake, social media must be an additional, not primary, channel. When Mr. Musk triggers the next Twitter mass exodus—with another Nazi salute or whatever—your event logistics should not be a casualty.
Postscript: I am not trying to pick on Principles First—I respect what they are building. This is a common problem.