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As Twitter destroys its brand by renaming itself X, Mastodon user numbers are again soaring | TechCrunch (techcrunch.com)
submitted 3 years ago by to c/fediverse@lemmy.world
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As Twitter ditches its iconic branding in favor of owner Elon Musk's favorite letter "X," its open source competitor Mastodon is once again seeing usage numbers soar.

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[–] 35 points 3 years ago (4 children)

I don’t like twitter nor Elon but why would someone leave a platform because they would change their name?

Elon has done more damage before so people who would consider leaving should be long gone.

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  • [–] 43 points 3 years ago* (last edited 3 years ago) (2 children)

    You're not wrong, but consider that people who justified sticking around for some reason or another might leave because the brand change (to a name that is so brain dead even a little offensive) finally hits home for them that it isn't going to be the same.

    A brand name change is about the single most overt thing you can do to send the message that a product isn't going to be the same. And when that happens, people tend to look at the recent trends for that product to get an idea of what to expect. The recent trends for Twitter happen to be right-wing echo chamber.

    So yeah, the people who were going to leave have largely already left. But this brand change is going to be effective at galvanizing those who remain.

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  • [–] 3 points 3 years ago (1 child)

    You could make the argument that all his previous outrageous behaviors were desperate attempts to squeeze more money out of a business he didn't understand. But this... this is unhinged. It's so bafflingly pointless and dumb it's become clear that what was once a reliable dopamine delivery system could, without warning or reason, just... disappear one day. Even the people who rely on Twitter like addicts are starting to come up with exit strategies.

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  • [–] 4 points 3 years ago

    I'd argue as well that all the past dumb decisions, (Twitter Blue, anybody being able to name themselves anything they want, bugs everywhere, not being able to see anything without an account), all of that was just stuff you only had to passively bear. Now, it's a brand change that will at least have you typing something different into Google to reach "X," but it is still an active change you have to make.

    If I had a Twitter account that was connected to my business, already had a whole bunch of followers, and was somewhat addicted to Twitter, I could understand having a hard time leaving. At the very least inertia would be a good enough reason for people to stay. But switching the brand recognition?

    • First off, you've disrupted the Twitter addictions of everyone on the site, because you'd have to know that blue bird logo is associated with a lot of people's dopamine responses
    • Second off, now that people are already being forced to make a change, there's less opportunity cost to jump ship to elsewhere
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  • [–] 38 points 3 years ago

    It's a "final straw" situation. No individual straw broke the back of the proverbial camel. One straw after another was placed atop it until finally the back broke. It's not the final straw that broke said back, but the load of all the straws including the final that did it.

    So they're not necessarily quitting because of the name change. They're quitting because of everything else plus the name change. That was the thing that pushed the go/no-go decision into "go".

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  • [–] 13 points 3 years ago

    I don’t like twitter nor Elon but why would someone leave a platform because they would change their name?

    Twitter has been around for so long, many are attached to it on an emotional level. It's older than my eldest niece; she's known about it since she could memorize the damn word.

    So as dumb as it is that THIS is what pushes people to leave, I'm glad more are leaving regardless.

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