Twitter Removing Block — Your Privacy Not Private Even With It
Everyone is in a tizzy over Elon removing the “block feature” on Twitter X. But even with it, are your online posts really that private?
Even if you block someone, they can see your tweets if they are public. Most people on Twitter X do have a public account.
About 13% of users have “private” accounts.
Tweets Are Public
Type in your name and the word Twitter. You will see all your tweets appear on Google. (The same is for Bing search but they appear slightly different.)
Now if your account is set to private it may not show up here.
But why be on Twitter with a private account? There are a few exceptions. But if you are marketing your business or yourself, that would not work.
Privacy Online Is Not Real
Everything you do online is NOT private. Even private messages could be used in court cases, or if an online leak were to happen, they could be left open for all to see.
I always have said if you post anything online, think if your mother or grandmother saw it. How would you feel if others saw it?
Even Your Home — Not So Private
If you use Facebook Meta apps on your mobile device, they can listen to your conversations. Or if you have an Alexa home gadget or Google Home app, they can also listen in on conversations in your home.
So, unless you want to live in a bubble without apps, mobile devices, or technology to speak of, your words are not so private.
That is whether the words are typed out or spoken out loud.
Marketers Delight
A lot of what happens on social media is geared toward marketing. It was to do with getting users’ information to pass on to advertisers on the network.
It is mostly for demographics so marketers can target the right audience.
Do you remember when Facebook exposed data on up to 87 million Facebook users to a researcher who worked at Cambridge Analytica?
There is a massive lawsuit that you have just days left to sign up for if you had an account as a Facebook user in the United States between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022.
The deadline is August 25, 2023. Don’t delay.
Spying On Private Accounts
With the advent of AI and other tech tools today, there are many ways for marketers to spy on private social media accounts.
So don’t be fooled into thinking because you have a private account or don’t use apps on your mobile device that your business is your business. — Lisa, Inspire To Thrive
What Is The Advantage of the Twitter X Block?
I’ve used it a few times over the years. It prevented spammers from tagging me and retweeting things with crazy messages in the tweet.
I also “felt” better knowing they didn’t have access on the platform to view my tweets.
Block Feature Remains For DM
The other thing people are not mentioning is that you can still use the block feature for DMs — direct messages on Twitter X.
So that will remain if the basic block goes away according to Elon Musk.
What Else Can You Do?
The 2 things you could do are:
You could mute others on the network so you don’t have to see their tweets.
Or you could make Twitter X lists of your favorite peeps and see only their stuff. I use lists as my own Twitter feed.
Users Upset — Talk of Leaving The Network
Users are upset, even large Twitter X users like James Wood.
Conclusion
So what will happen? Time will tell. In the past, Elon has backed down when users complained and other times, he hasn’t.
Oftentimes users go away for a short period of time, only to return to one of the oldest social networks out there today.
There is no other platform quite like Twitter even with the X.
