Twitter Account Suspension: Insights and Risks

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1) What Happened Ever seen a RUG to 0 of this scale? Yea... that's my followers chart - My account was suspended at 24.1K. Here's my thoughts on the very valid use case of Web3 Social If You're reading this on Twitter, it already concerns YOU. 🧵👇

As much as I want to provide insight into what happened and actionable steps for you to prevent your account from meeting the same fate, I didn't get much info from Twitter... Apart from a User Report which single-handedly nuked my account on Monday.

What I can say is that YOU are at risk. Not your keys, not your account, and you CAN'T do anything about it - Welcome to Web2 Social.

The drawbacks of centralized social media have become glaringly obvious. A few days ago, this account was suspended, sending me straight to 0. Followers. Gone Engagement. Gone Social Capital. Gone

The suspension of my Twitter account was a stark wake-up call, highlighting the fragility of building a social presence on centralized platforms. The inherent issues with centralized control highlight the pressing need and valid use case for decentralized social.

Web3 social graphs are the spine of decentralized social networks, epitomized by platforms like @LensProtocol and @farcaster_xyz Web3 social graphs enable a decentralized database storing info about individuals and their relationships, ensuring user control over data

So what are social graphs? A social graph is like a digital map of our social interactions and relationships. It maps out who knows who, who interacts with who, and in what way.

The Quagmire of Web2 Social 1. Ownership Void: Platforms own your connections, interactions, and essentially, your digital identity. You're at the mercy of the platform. Got banned wrongfully? Lost your email and password? Your handle got hijacked by Twitter? Too bad

2. Monetization Drought: There's a stark absence of direct incentivization for content creators, an aspect that could have otherwise spurred a flourishing ecosystem of creators. Imagine how many full-time CT analysooors and researchooors there would be if they got paid.

But this opens another door for mercenary players which I'll not dive deep into. Just think about the advent of FriendTech and the whole bunch of FT forks on other chains.

The monetization model of FT aligns more with monetizing a user's influence and network rather than their content. This raises the question of whether the model incentivizes genuine content creation or merely capitalizes on existing popularity and network strength.

3. Isolated Realms: Interoperability among platforms like Twitter or IG is nearly non-existent (ie siloed digital identities) There may be wormholes to connect them (e.g. Linking IG in TikTok), but at the core, the company controls your experience by owning your graph.

4. Censorship Shadows: Corporations' commercial and political interests often drive the narrative, leading to suppression or outright censorship of content that challenges these interests. Remember how Twitter banned Mastodon? Deboosted Substack links? Banned ElonJet? twitter.com/ElonJetNextDay/status/1620943176730017793?s=20&t=df9dqoPa005ipoBuGIk7JQ

If my social graph was decentralized, my account suspension would've gone a lot differently: In a decentralized framework, I would own and control my data. The network of my connections, followers, and interactions - would remain intact and accessible.

I could seamlessly migrate to another platform or service within the decentralized ecosystem without losing my follower base or previous interactions. This level of control and portability mitigates the risks associated with platform suspensions Keeps ur account SAFU

💡 CLOSING THOUGHTS The tribulations I faced with my account suspension on Twitter unveiled the stark limitations of Web2 social realms, where control is relinquished to the platform, not me, the user. An accusatory ban, rightfully or wrongfully, sends you straight to 0.

Decentralized social networks like those enabled by Lens and Farcaster, beckons a promising horizon where ownership and control are the norm. This model ensures data privacy and also shields users from arbitrary account bans, creating a truly user-driven social network