Twitter is not dead — but some of its users are already mourning what the platform was, before Elon Musk's takeover.
As the site descends further into chaos, users are getting nostalgic and sharing their favorite memories of "old school Twitter."
Some lamented Twitter for being among the first platforms to remove the boundaries between celebrities and everyday people. Others recalled the laughs they had over quick-witted tweets.
Meghan Crozier, a podcaster, said she feels Twitter has long been a space for people to interact with groups and communities they might never encounter offline.
Crozier, for example, hosts a community Tuesday mornings on Twitter Spaces called “Deconstruction Coffee Hour." On Thursday, she asked her followers to share a “happy Twitter memory,” and said the responses affirmed her appreciation for pre-chaos Twitter.
“Somebody said, ‘I used to think that queer people were sinning ... and now I don’t because of Twitter,’” Crozier said. “When I think about the access to voices that people have on Twitter and the access they won’t have if Twitter goes away — I think that’s the hardest part.”
Yong Chavez, a Southern California-based journalist, echoed the belief that the connections forged on Twitter are unforgettable. She said she's made lifelong friends across the globe thanks to Twitter.
“I’ve made priceless work connections through the site and to see it disintegrate is heartbreaking,” said Chavez, who works for Filipino news outlet ABS-CBN News, which is based in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines.
Chavez said she often turned to the site for a break from her day. She'll never forget memorable moments on the platform, like when she got retweeted by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
"Now I'm getting teary-eyed," Chavez said, recalling the reasons Twitter was important to her. "We use Twitter for a lot of things, but mostly it was a break."
Amid the nostalgic posts there were those who preferred to look at the platform through a less positive lens. There were users who pointed out that Twitter, pre-Musk, had been referred to as a “hellsite“ where users “doomscrolled“ for hours.
"You know, these (perhaps) premature eulogies of twitter are suddenly transforming it into some lost object we never had in the first place," Maria Aristodemou, a law professor at Birkbeck, University of London, tweeted. "I for one didn’t find it esp friendly or welcoming, addictive, yes, but we should go easy on the nostalgia for imaginary ideal objects."
Many on Twitter have said that Musk's takeover has been frustrating to watch because they grew to love the platform for its sense of community.
“Watching friends say goodbye on this bird app makes me wish someone would migrate Twitter to a better place, and just change one letter of the name," freelance writer Karen Dalton Beninato tweeted.
Some people have moved to Mastodon, a decentralized microblogging platform. But there are those who still aren't sure if there's any replacement for Twitter.
"There might be ways to piece together different social media platforms to kind of recreate that ... it's not going to feel the same as Twitter," Crozier said. "Because the way we've cultivated our community is pretty unique to the platform."
While some — including a number of celebrities — have departed the platform for good, there are those who said they want to stick with it through this tough transitional time.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t end," tweeted Lisa Lucas, a senior vice president at the publishing group Knopf Doubleday. "Here until the screen fades to black tho. In the meantime, y’all will never ever ever know how much you’ve meant to me and done for me over the years, I’m so truly grateful. Hope I told a couple of good jokes. (Hope we get to tell years more of them!)"
