In 2010s, Twitter enabled young and marginalized people to be heard, held news organizations accountable, and pushed largely ignored issues into the mainstream
It's impossible to avoid news about how harmful social media can be. The Cambridge Analytica scandal. The ubiquitous Russian bots. Tweets: @sjjphd , @sjjphd , @sjjphd , @sjjphd , @neil_chilson , @mikeisaac , @profblackistone , @andreas212nyc , @mikeisaac , @millie , @dantley , @digiphile , @scottmonty , @jeffjarvis , @adamsinger , @jimprosser , @nytopinion , @kateo , @larakate , @nytopinion , @blackgirlinmain , @slpng_giants , @rahaeli , @nesrinemalik , @gregbradyto , @nesrinemalik , @mitpress , @stephenossola , @brentnyt , @salalbanesenyc , and @jason_kint See also Mediagazer Tweets: Sarah J. Jackson / @sjjphd : That last part is a story that must be told and something I have dedicated my career to. Progress is neither linear or singular it exists alongside violent backlash always, folks committed to truth-telling nonetheless deserve to be documented, they are brave & important. Sarah J. Jackson / @sjjphd : Add to that that people kneejerk react to headlines (which writers don't choose) and don't read often before reacting to social media and I have people yelling I don't know anything about Twitter, which is, frankly, laughable. But this is the public sphere and that's okay ;) Sarah J. Jackson / @sjjphd : There is a lot of important work by colleagues on how social media has been exploited by regressive forces. It's all true! And these companies, as I note, have largely failed to address hate & harassment on their platforms. Yet, resilient determined folks have made real change. Sarah J. Jackson / @sjjphd : Thx to those who've shared+read my NYT piece on Twitter activism. For folks shouting in my comments Twitter is bad b/c nazis, Trump, etc. True, but I'm guessing you didn't read it. Nuance is necessary, we must document resistance & change even as it coexists w/ regressive forces. https://twitter.com/... Neil Chilson / @neil_chilson : What a puzzling thread from a researcher. Here's the TLDR: this paper is limited, and b/c it contradicts Arvind's priors, he says it's worse than wrong EVEN THOUGH he admits there is no good research supporting his priors. So he is grateful for anecdotes that confirm his priors. https://twitter.com/... Rat King / @mikeisaac : agree with this premise insofar as platforms dont produce unilaterally terrible results — just a matter of deciding the outcome is a net positive when weighing the negative https://www.nytimes.com/... Kevin B. Blackistone / @profblackistone : “Twitter users have disrupted a media landscape where gatekeepers — in an industry that has always fallen short when it comes to race and gender diversity — were for too long solely responsible for setting the agenda of what we talked about as a country.” @sjjphd https://twitter.com/... Andreas Sandre / @andreas212nyc : “Rightful critiques of #socialmedia, and Twitter in particular, shouldn't obscure the significance of the conversations that have happened there over the past 10 years,” writes @sjjphd @AnnenbergPenn in @nytopinion. “Twitter made this decade better.” https://www.nytimes.com/... Rat King / @mikeisaac : one thing twitter made sure of: it's really hard for writers to suck at their jobs in public without being immediately questioned for flawed work, which i think is a positive development Millie Tran / @millie : Despite it all*, why it's worth being here: “Many people who lacked public platforms 10 years ago — the young and members of marginalized groups in particular — are speaking up, insisting on being heard.” via @sjjphd https://www.nytimes.com/... *Yes, “all” is doing A LOT here @dantley : I'll let this piece speak for itself, but it covers many of the reasons why I joined Twitter and why I feel we have so much work to do. Let's go! Opinion | Twitter Made Us Better - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/... Alex Howard / @digiphile : “As we enter 2020, powerful individuals & societal problems can no longer avoid public scrutiny. That's thanks in part to those who have demanded attention through [Twitter]"- @sjjphd https://www.nytimes.com/... Spot on, important point about how Twitter empowered marginalized voices https://twitter.com/... Scott Monty / @scottmonty : Positive takes only: how has Twitter improved your life? https://www.nytimes.com/... Jeff Jarvis / @jeffjarvis : Thank goodness for @sjjphd's wise and contrarian oped praising Twitter for giving voice to those too long ignored by (old, white, male) mainstream media. Says what I've been trying to say but so much better. I can't wait for the book! https://www.nytimes.com/... Adam Singer / @adamsinger : I'm here for the optimistic takes on social media. Because of Twitter, blogging, Reddit I have friends across industries, contributed to some of the most important companies of our time, & spoke at events across the world. Net benefit for everyone is here. https://www.nytimes.com/... Jim Prosser / @jimprosser : “As we enter 2020, powerful individuals and societal problems can no longer avoid public scrutiny. ” https://www.nytimes.com/... @nytopinion : @michikokakutani @evepeyser @vauhinivara @GretchenAMcC “Twitter can be exploited for evil and harnessed for good,” writes @sjjphd. “But this decade, it helped ordinary people change our world.” Do you agree? Check out her take and more in our special Sunday edition on the end of the decade. http://www.nytimes.com/... Kate O'Neill / @kateo : I love this. And I agree. Twitter has been a megaphone for disenfranchised voices even as it fostered negative interactions, but the empowerment of those disenfranchised voices matters, and in the end I think Twitter has been a force for good. Thanks for writing this, @sjjphd. 💙 https://twitter.com/... Lara Cohen / @larakate : “Without Twitter, far fewer Americans would know the names Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Sandra Bland” https://twitter.com/... @nytopinion : “Rightful critiques of social media, and Twitter in particular, shouldn't obscure the significance of the conversations that have happened there over the past ten years,” writes @sjjphd http://www.nytimes.com/... Shay Stewart Bouley / @blackgirlinmain : “Twitter users have disrupted a media... https://www.nytimes.com/... @slpng_giants : .@twitter started out as a valuable tool to give regular people a chance to make a difference and, in fact, it has been invaluable to our campaign. But like everything on the Internet, the endless need for more engagement and advertising dollars totally corrupted it. https://twitter.com/... @rahaeli : These are all excellent points and why I'm still here, but the author of this letter does a disservice to the marginalized people she (rightly) praises Twitter for containing by failing to mention Twitter's ongoing failure to apply best practices for anti-abuse... https://twitter.com/... Nesrine Malik / @nesrinemalik : My own advice, humbly offered in my book, after a decade on this website which god has forsaken. But Twitter still pretty much the only tool we have to challenge those ensconced behind the walls of powerful orgs. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Greg Brady / @gregbradyto : Love this read. Compelling argument & yet I go back and forth on its “value” every damn day. https://twitter.com/... Nesrine Malik / @nesrinemalik : Despite everything, this is true. https://twitter.com/... MIT Press / @mitpress : “.@Twitter has fallen short in many ways. But this decade, it helped ordinary people change our world,” writes @sjjphd for @nytopinion @nytimes. Her forthcoming book #HashtagActivism (with @moyazb & @foucaultwelles) goes on sale next March. https://www.nytimes.com/... Stephen Ossola / @stephenossola : “twitter has fallen short in many ways. but this decade, it helped ordinary people change our world” https://www.nytimes.com/... Brent Staples / @brentnyt : Twitter improved popular discourse - partly by making it less white, writes @sjjphd via @nytopinion https://www.nytimes.com/... Sal Albanese / @salalbanesenyc : https://www.nytimes.com/... via @NYTOpinion I agree with this insightful column that on balance Twitter is a positive influence on our society. I hope more people open an account Jason Kint / @jason_kint : To this day, I don't understand how so consistently journalists say Kogan “gave” this data when the commercial contract to “sell” the Facebook data to Cambridge Analytica was disclosed in a public hearing. @Kantrowitz https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer Expand More For Next Unexpand More For Next
Context & Ripple Effects
This New York Times retrospective lands at the tail end of a decade-long arc: after the Cambridge Analytica scandal and Russian bot activity dominated the harm narrative, the paper makes the counter-case that Twitter gave young and marginalized people a public voice, held news organizations accountable, and forced ignored issues into the mainstream — while also conceding the platform largely failed on hate and harassment.
That tension is exactly where the related coverage has gone since: platforms that cast themselves as the new public square now face questions over their role in cancel culture (Facebook and Twitter questioned on cancel culture), researchers split over whether social-media harms are overstated (the social-media-harm debate), and X still functions as the political arena DC insiders can't quit (X remains the political destination).
First-order effects
- News organizations lose their gatekeeping position in this account: Twitter made institutional journalism answerable to audiences it had historically ignored, which is why outlets like the Times are the ones writing the reckoning.
- Twitter inherits a dual mandate from its own decade — amplification for marginalized voices and unchecked hate and harassment — and both legacies land on the same moderation infrastructure at once.
Second-order effects
- Product design becomes the battleground for that mandate: Twitter testing author-controlled reply limits (limiting who can reply) is a direct structural response to the harassment failure, trading open reply norms for speaker-side control.
- Rivals positioned as the public square get pulled into the same accountability frame — Facebook alongside Twitter faces cancel-culture scrutiny, meaning no platform can claim the civic role without owning its civic failures.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, the 'new public square' framing cuts both ways structurally: claiming the square invites the same 'working the refs' pressure big news outlets faced decades ago, pushing platforms toward editorial-style defensiveness rather than neutral conduit claims.
- The longer-term shift is from open-participation defaults toward governed participation — reply controls, identity verification, paid access — with the risk that the very voices the 2010s platform empowered are the first priced out of the controlled version.
The trend: Platforms that claimed the public square are being forced to trade openness for control over participation, deciding who gets heard in the process.