I Guess I Didn’t Need Twitter After All

I joined Twitter in June of 2008. I was an online editor for O’Reilly Media, and the blue bird was definitely a place to be.

I integrated the feed into my website, shared interesting articles that caught my eye, and of course, posted pictures.

I was always under the impression that Twitter was important to my photography and writing endeavors. And to some degree, that was true.

When I landed a book contract with Wiley, they wanted assurance of my social media platform to help promote the finished product. At the time, 5,000 Twitter followers was the baseline. I had 7,500 and went on to publish iPad for Digital Photographers with them.

But in the days that followed, posting to Twitter became rote, like making the bed or brushing after a meal. Honestly, tweeting evolved into more of a chore than a passion. And as the conversations grew more polarizing, I retreated to other means of communicating with my audience.

I didn’t realize it then, but this relationship had run its course.

A couple days after Elon Musk took control of the platform, I was permanently suspended. No specific reason was cited, just that I “broke the Twitter rules.”

I clicked on the link to see what I may have done, reviewed my latest tweets, and couldn’t…