What makes the internet magical is that it is ultimately us, not itself. We decide when and where and how the “magic” of the internet will happen. We do it slowly, over time, and collectively. Often haltingly, yes, with diversions and backward leaps interspersed with forward momentum, but we do do it. And just as Vine was vibrant up until it ended; just as Facebook was a universe unto itself until Trumpism increased its toxicity to the breaking point; digital communities rise and fall with a frequency quite distinct from Rome—a city whose fate is another point of focus and emphasis in the article below.
But Twitter was not Rome. Twitter is merely a digital encampment.
The internet is definitionally nomadic, not imperial.
This is just a small bit of a long post by Prof. Abramson which is ostensibly about the state of Twitter, but in fact more about how digital communication works and doesn’t work.
It is so worth your time.
