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Damn you, Twitter. Kept you at arm's length for so long but now I can't look away.
While others are deserting the platform (or saying they will but reappearing every day), I'm not that invested in it but confess to a morbid fascination for its death throes.
Where else can you find apparently verified tweets from George W. Bush saying, "I miss killing Iraqis"? Or Tesla, similarly sporting that blue tick, posting, "Our analysis engineers simulate hundreds of impact scenarios before ever killing a child in real life."
New owner Elon Musk's decision to charge $8 a month to buy a blue tick has blown up like a SpaceX Falcon rocket exploding on the launchpad. Figuring it's a small price to pay to create chaos, the pranksters have moved in just after the safety and privacy gatekeepers have either been marched out or resigned.
Jesus is verified. So is George Washington. Whatever value the once-coveted blue tick might have had has turned to dust.
Two weeks after buying the company, senior executives, advertisers and users have departed en masse. The US Federal Trade Commission is looking into its operation. Even President Joe Biden has fired a warning shot, saying Musk's connections with other countries are worth looking at. The remaining Muskovites have been told by the boss bankruptcy is a real possibility.
Twitter's not alone. Over at Meta, Mark Zuckerberg's company which owns Facebook and Instagram, 11,000 workers - 13 per cent of the workforce - have lost their jobs. Advertising revenue has plummeted thanks to inflation and e-commerce returning to its pre-pandemic volumes. And then there's Metaverse, the $100 billion virtual world Zuck was convinced would be the future of social media.
By all accounts, it's a joyless world. To enter, you have to buy a ridiculously expensive, headache inducing virtual reality headset. Once you're in, one reviewer said, it's so half built, the few avatars in there don't even have legs. I can think of a million places I'd rather be. The real world, for a start, talking to real people.
How the mighty have fallen. They're not the first and won't be the last.
Remember MySpace? Back in the 2000s it was the the biggest social media platform in terms of global reach, so lucrative it was snapped up by News Corp in 2005 for $580 million. By 2011, it was on the nose, overtaken by the Facebook juggernaut which is now sputtering. MySpace has pretty much vanished from sight now.
We'll know soon enough if Twitter goes the same way.
HAVE YOUR SAY: Will you miss Twitter? Do you even use it? What social media, if any, do you use? Should billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have so much sway over information and public opinion? Should Musk have stuck to space and electric vehicles? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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IN CASE YOU MISSED IT:
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admits Australians need relief on soaring energy prices and says a price cap on gas is one option on the table as his government seeks solutions. Mr Albanese on Friday brushed off speculation about a super profits tax on gas and thermal coal, and doubled down on renewables as the nation's long-term path to cheaper energy prices and lower carbon emissions.
- Proposed price hikes on the cost of sending a letter through Australia Post have been given the all-clear by the consumer and competition regulator. Australia Post plans to increase its basic postage rate on its ordinary letter service by 9.1 per cent, according to a draft proposal put forward by the company earlier this year.
- Three broadband internet providers have been fined $33.5 million after failing to ensure some customers could achieve internet speeds they were paying for. Telstra will pay $15m after action was taken by consumer watchdog, the ACCC in the Federal Court. The penalty was agreed between Telstra and the watchdog, and approved by Justice Mark Moshinsky on Friday. Optus agreed to pay $13.5m while TPG will pay $5m.
THEY SAID IT: "I think anyone who is famous is a moron if they're on Twitter. It's just stupid." - George Clooney
YOU SAID IT: The great work teachers do and would do more of if they're weren't buried in admin. And the teachers who inspired you.
Olivia says: "I remember him even today. Mr Gravenall at Albany High, 1956. A tall gingery freckled man with a damaged hand. I swapped schools a lot, so kept my mouth shut when I was put into second year in error. Mr G called me out and sent me back to the first year of high school. He watched over me until I left school as soon as I could. He tried to stop me. I treasured his interest. Sorry, Mr G, life lured me away from education. I did OK."
Veronica's memory was triggered: "How your story resonates with me. I still remember to this day a primary school teacher I had in the small town school of Finley in the Riverina. He was magic and taught all four of the girls in my family. Many years later at a school reunion, he was there and I told my young daughter that this man used to teach me when I was your age - he replied that he and I did not always agree. So I remembered him and he remembered me. My teachers were wonderful."
"Is it time for a different approach in our schools?" asks John. "Do we continue to search for the elusive 'great' teacher? What about having a class coach, who would show and prepare kids how to learn, how to study and how to ask questions? A coach skilled in group dynamics and individual performance. The teacher, then, would be the expert who delivers the subject matter. So, a teacher would be, for example, a specialist in teaching English to Year 7 kids and wouldn't be required to teach anything else. Under this model, teachers may work at several schools. Teachers would then be seen as true professionals earning income according to their skill level, which should attract more to the profession. No more playground duty!"
Tim says: "My high school art/metalwork/woodwork teacher posted a message about his cancer treatment and within an hour he had 300 messages of goodwill. He taught at the same high school for 30 years after being a student there and has a gallery with a sculpture garden that has been on TV."
Frank is grateful for one teacher in particular: "I had a teacher in my who had a terrible temper, and was known to us all as Killer Dodd, but with a soft interior who was able to inspire. He inspired me at age 14 to think about university and I did and became the first in my family, dating since the 1700s to obtain a degree. It changed my life in so many ways thanks to 'Killer Dodd's' intervention."
"Thank you for your words on teachers and teaching," says John. "I spent 35 years as a teacher in both government and independent schools in the 1960s,70s,and 80s,and your words today brought me to tears when I consider the state of teachers and teaching today. I remember a collegian English teacher, who so inspired his students that still, after 20 years, I have conversations about how he changed their lives in a positive way. And yet his work and influence for good went unnoticed (mostly) by all but his students. The older I get, the more I come to realise that our education is the very basis of our quality of life, and that our teachers are gold."
Like Garry, Linda recalls an American teacher: "Mr Jim Sterns arrived in the 70s, flown in to help with our teacher shortage. He wore jeans, a body shirt and chunky shoes. Each Friday afternoon, the last two lessons of the week, he read us The Hobbit. 50 years later I can still summon his voice from my memory and be transported to the wonders of Middle Earth. Same class had Ms D. Spender share her passion with us. Ms Spender introduced us to theatre taking a group of us to the newly opened Sydney Opera House to see Kate Fitzpatrick in The Importance of Being Earnest. For most of us working class kids it was our first experience of live theatre. Ms Spender went on to have a distinguished career as an academic, change leading feminist and author but sparked a life long love of theatre in one young student."