X or Threads: It’s time for former Denver Sports Twitter to choose.
Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
The service formerly known as Twitter has gone downhill faster than a Tesla in hyperdrive and has gotten uglier than a Cybertuck.
What is Musk thinking?
Elon took one of the most recognizable tech brands in the world, stripped it of its name, jettisoned its iconic and familiar little blue bird logo, and rebranded it “X”, perhaps the coldest, most impersonal thing he could have. In the process, he alienated millions of now-former users and resurrected the corpse of Zuckerberg’s Twitter copy, Threads.
Ten years ago Twitter was a playground of engagement – especially for Sports fans. It was the perfect platform for people like me to build a community around fandom – to Tweet about the teams, the leagues, the media, and the players – live and in real-time. There was simply no better companion to the games themselves than Twitter.
I used it to build an audience for the South Stands Denver Fancast and to promote my then-frequent posts to this website. And I wasn’t the only one. Every sports blogger and podcaster in the game today relies heavily on Twitter. Hell, DNVR built an entire brand using Twitter – and has now branched out nationally with the All-City Sports network.
I used it to meet dozens of people I now call friends; including one of my best friends, a Broncos fan named Lauren with whom I saw the Taylor Swift “Reputation” concert at Mile High. It was one of the most fun evenings of my entire adult life. I used Twitter to organize “Tweet-ups” to which dozens of people would appear. Those days are seemingly over.
We all need Twitter, but it’s falling apart. Now some central figures in the Denver Sports scene have, like the little blue bird, flown the coop. Folks are avoiding Twitter like the plague for one simple reason … they don’t like Elon Musk. And who can blame them? He’s crude, he’s abrupt and he’s nasty. Furthermore, he’s selling blue checks now and threatening to start charging people to access the service.
Charging for “X” is an insane notion. The entire value of it is volume … eyeballs. The more eyeballs, the more value. One doesn’t intentionally throttle back engagement with a social media product by attempting to make it more exclusive and less widely available. That’s as dumb as telling advertisers to “fuck off”. Who does that? Oh, yeah. Elon Musk does.
Now folks are slowly meandering over to Threads, which was dead in the water until Elon tossed it a life jacket. The fracturing of the Denver Sports community between the two services is driving me nuts. I certainly don’t want to send identical posts on each; but I feel like that’s what I have to do, at least for now. Copy. Paste.
So, former Denver Sports Twitter peeps, let’s figure it out. Let’s somehow get together on which one we want to hang out on. Maybe we should all get together at the DNVR bar on an evening with a Nuggets or Avalanche game, discuss this topic, maybe have an advocate for each service speak, and take a vote: X or Threads?
Let’s make one or the other of these the OFFICIAL social media tool of the Denver Sports fan community. Honestly, I would be fine with either one. I’m not a boycott guy. If I stayed away from every brand with a creep for a CEO I would starve to death. But let’s pick a lane – together – and be together again. The fan experience just isn’t the same when we’re divided.
