CMU School of Drama


Monday, November 14, 2022

Playbill Leaves Twitter, Says Platform Now Blurs “Actual News and Insidious Rhetoric”

The Hollywood Reporter: Theater publication Playbill said it will no longer post content on Twitter after the platform “has greatly expanded its tolerance for hate, negativity, and misinformation.”

7 comments:

Madison Gold said...

I deleted my twitter years ago in an effort to be more present and less under the influence of social media. At first it was a struggle to feel connected and aware to the news of the world but I soon discovered that there are many other places to get the news and they have a lot less crap on it. I did not know about the opportunity that Twitter gave to allow people to buy a verification mark. It seems totally unethical and defeats the purpose of that mark. I am glad they got rid of it but I also want to know what was going through their minds when they thought that it was a good idea because I personally don’t see one. I am glad that Playbill is leaving and I hope that many other people and corporations do too. There are many other platforms and I’m sure opportunities for others to be developed as well.

Abby Brunner said...

I am not surprised that Playbill is no longer going to use Twitter as one of their multimedia platforms. I am hopeful that now that Playbill has retired from Twitter, so will other major companies. There is something about someone taking over a company that was centered around free speech, only to say it wasn’t and then restrict the facts from being able to be told truthfully about anything. It’s both a curse and a blessing that we have access to social media in the way that we do in this age, however, this new policy that Elon Musk is enforcing for Twitter, goes against everything that social media stands for in my mind. I find that social media should be a platform to share moments in our lives that we find joyous and funny, but I know that for many social media platforms are outlets. I just hope that with the change Twitter is going through, more social media platforms won’t follow in their footsteps.

Akshatha said...

I think Elon Musk has been making some pretty not smart business moves when it comes to twitter. I think the ability to pay for verification defeats the purpose of the verification itself. I support Playbill's decision to no longer use Twitter as so much misinformation can be spread on site now. I am interested to see how many more companies and celebrities leave the platform and what the status of twitter is to become. While twitter has always been a little controversial it seems to be gaining more discourse around it since Trump was banned from the platform. I think that Elon Musk bought the platform because it is controversial. Whatever financial hit it may take does not really affect him and by buying the platform he gains more publicity for himself. I hope that more platforms don't sell themselves to Elon Musk or hop onto the bandwagon of using controversy to gain publicity.

DMSunderland said...

I couldn't be happier to see a headline like this. Twitter is such a toxic and horrible platform, now owned by an egotistical, childish, memelord asshole. The recent changes enacted on that platform have basically turned it into an even larger cesspool of misinformation, with tons of people causing chaos and spreading misinformation for the laughs/as a form of protest against the changes enacted by the new owner of Twitter. The fact that anybody can be verified now, which was once a form of assurance that the person speaking was in some way shape or form vetted by staff at Twitter, makes it relatively easy and cheap to attempt to impersonate a person, company, or governmental organization. Sure, the average user should be internet savvy enough to know to look at a user's handle before jumping to conclusions on some wildly out of left field post that they see on the internet. But many people do just instantly become inflamed. Shitty platform. Very happy to see that companies are starting to pull away from it.

CrimsonCreeks said...

It’s sad what is happening with Twitter right now. People are losing their jobs; not just the people who work for Twitter itself but also Social Media Managers who are paid to post for their company. Twitter is not a healthy social media platform, and Playbill has every right to want to leave, but it is still a job, people are still working there. All of this news about Elon Musk’s control on Twitter is honestly really heartbreaking. Twitter has its flaws, but it’s been running fine for years until now. There have been less problems with Twitter than there have been with Instagram and TikTok, which have both had multiple scares and crashes throughout the Pandemic. Social media also doesn’t just benefit Social Media Managers, but also the companies themselves who thrive off of engagement from social media. Not everyone likes to use every form of social media. I don’t know how much interaction Playbill gets on Twitter compared to other platforms, but I still worry for them and the direction social media is heading towards right now.

Ellie Yonchak said...

It's been really interesting watching Elon Musk take over Twitter the past couple of weeks. And by interesting, I mean interesting in the sense of how you can't look away from a car wreck. Although this was the first company to do this, I don't think it will be the last. I'm still so surprised that he fired over 50% of his company randomly, without warning, leaving him open to suing because of that. In addition to the potential lawsuits he could get from that, his website's security is compromised, his other staff are overworked, and people who had very important jobs, who were the only people who knew how to do those jobs, are gone. I think that Playbill did make an interesting choice here. I'm guessing that they were looking at both the rise in hate speech, as well as the weird self-centered language policing that's been happening on Twitter. However, I'm interested to see how they will connect with their audience now that Twitter will not be a platform on their radar. Twitter's kind of the only social media that is well-known that is mainly text-based so it'll be interesting to see how they try and connect using text and stuff like that with their audience.

Cyril Neff said...

It is almost tiring to see the current social discussion surrounding Twitter and all of its mishaps, because it was an especially informative site when you consider just how many people get their news from social media. Twitter is one of the biggest platforms for garnering multiple perspectives in a fast, open manner, while also allowing for the open criticism of creators and politicians on the app. Now, was I surprised going into this article that Twitter’s current algorithm under the direction of Elon Musk is intentionally silencing factual information? No, not at all. When considering the fact that Musk is a huge capitalist, there is absolutely no reason for anyone to assume that he would want what is factually correct to be present on the platform, especially considering that that would end up silencing a majority of the political figures he actively advocates for. He is a right-winged capitalist, and he is nothing more than a childish man who foolishly bragged about his wealth, and is now making the rest of the world pay the consequences of his actions in the form of loss of viable information from reliable sources.