We are in a period where the public is going to need to become proactive about challenging corporate power, and that includes a shift in the mentality we have regarding social media. We need to be active, not passive (as FB and Twitter have caused us to become); active in producing, finding, and promoting worthwhile content to create a viable alternate universe to the one created on these main platforms. We all did that before FB and Twitter came along, and we can do it now.
I understand when businesses and organisations choose to stay on these platforms, but individuals really have no solid reasons. Let’s face it, the impact of your posts is subject to algorithmic discrimination, manipulation, and arbitrariness; not to mention being sandwiched between frivolous posts of cats falling off countertops and memes of Sponge Bob. It is a platform that degrades, not uplifts discourse.
If you have a small audience elsewhere who genuinely appreciates your content; the truth is, that is all you have here anyway. The rest of your “followers” either have you muted or just don’t pay that much attention.
If individuals leave, businesses and organisations will leave. And this is an example of exactly what we need to start doing to truly influence political policy. The Market rules politics, and the people ARE the Market; we have just been fooled into thinking we are powerless.
So, in a few hours, I will be deleting my account here, on Twitter, on Instagram, and uninstalling WhatsApp. I am tired of contributing to Mark Zuckerberg’s and Jack Dorsey’s wealth and power, and I do not approve of how they use it. I realise this will margninalise me, and I know that if we do not erode these platforms, their significance will grow to such an extent that NOT being on them will potentially have broader social, economic, and political consequences — but that is precisely why I feel it is imperative to disassociate from them.
Allah bless you all, I dearly appreciate your interest and support for my ideas over the years. I will continue writing on Minds, on my blog and website, and the Telegram channel I started recently, as well as hopefully produce content for YouTube and eventually Rumble. If you find my thoughts useful, feel free to join me on any of these alternative platforms.
Jazakum Allahu Khayran
–Shahid