Twitter X: Why I'm Not Celebrating My One Year Anniversary

There was a reply in my Twitter X notifications the other day, which told me that I should celebrate my one-year anniversary on the platform with a post.

Here's the message.

I chose not to use it. I couldn't see the point of it, as other than being a post, it did not offer any special privileges. I did not get the impression that it would be seen by many people. 

In fact, one of the reasons why I did not post it, was because of the Twitter X algorithm. To coincide with using the platform for one year, the algorithm had been playing games again. I had noticed a dramatic drop in the number of views on posts that I had sent. Apparently, and judging by the number of "do you see this post", many others have noticed this as well. Interaction numbers are well down, and there are times (many times) when you feel like you are talking to yourself. 

I was left wondering, what was "big" about it? I have gone from averaging about 50–100 views on a post, which isn't that many anyway, to 5-10. Perhaps they were all bots?

I only feel encouraged to post less, and go and do something more productive than scrolling the Twitter X feed, like actual writing.

Oh, and there is something else. Elon, in his almightiness, has decided that only paid accounts can now see their Twitter X stats.

The problem is that you can no longer measure progress. The analytics page wasn't very good anyway, but they were supposedly upgrading that. You have to pay to see it now, and the platform doesn't really offer anything that is worth paying for as far as I can see. What with an algorithm that massively reduces your numbers, just when they want you to pay to see those numbers, it's not good business really.

Twitter X does offer the chance to monetize your content on the platform, assuming you are in the right country to qualify, but the rules don't make it easy.

Have at least 5M impressions on your posts within the last 3 months? After I stopped laughing, I wondered, how is that possible when the algorithm reduces your stats by around 90% on a whim? 

I don't think I will be signing up.