What was Twitter?
Join us for a panel discussion at NYU on April 16
Twitter has been declared dead many times over. And yet, despite the number of users who have left the site since Elon Musk took over in 2022 and proceeded to dismantle much of its functionality, a true replacement has not emerged. Neither Mastodon, Bluesky, nor any of the other imitators have been able to replicate the unique culture and customs of Twitter in its prime. For better or worse, the platform reshaped much of media and journalism in the 2010s and early 2020s. It set the tone, over the course of many years, for political discourse on the left and the right. And linguistic trends born on Twitter have wormed their way into so much of our speech, writing, and thinking — when it comes to joke formats, conversational tics, argumentative styles, and more.
How should we understand Twitter’s indelible influence on internet culture, journalism, literature, comedy, and celebrity? What made the site so distinct in the first place, and what accounts for its persistence? And if it really is over now, what comes next?
On Wednesday, April 16, at 6 p.m., The Drift will convene journalists Willy Staley,
, , and for a discussion moderated by and hosted by NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. We hope you’ll join us. Registration is free but required!