Why #sophiefromromania is leaving Twitter

In November 2022 I wrote a long piece here about my relationship with Twitter and why, despite “the chaotic reign of Mad King Elon” I would not be leaving. I ended that post with this line:

“Elon Musk do try not to break anything else - Twitter feels like home and I’m not leaving.”

Well, in the last few weeks Musk has smashed up what remained of Twitter’s reputation (I refuse to call it by its ridiculous new name though in some ways it is appropriate for what is an X certificate platform unsafe for minors and indeed most sane adults.) It definitely does not feel like home any more.

#Sophiefromromania is leaving Twitter

It is the billionaire’s assault on my country and its electoral system which has been the final straw. As someone who considers himself a patriot and thinks, despite their flaws, our Parliamentary system and a constitutional monarchy have served us pretty well, I am outraged that a foreign billionaire thinks he can tell our King to tear up the rules and call a General Election.

i am appalled too at the lies Musk is telling about Stephen Yaxley Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) and the reasons for the continued imprisonment of this career law breaker whose convictions include one for assaulting a police officer. Lies that put Musk well to the right of Nigel Farage, who he is now trying to depose as Reform leader.

I am also disappointed by the way both the government and the media have reacted to the toxic tycoon’s assault on our country. I suppose it is understandable that the government does not want to get into a fight with a man who has the ear of Donald Trump but it would be nice to see a more muscular response, particularly when Musk endangers the security of minister and women’s rights campaigner Jess Philipps.

As for the media, from the Mail to the Express and even the BBC, the approach has mainly been to portray this as a “he said, she said” row and a major problem for Keir Starmer and his government rather than an assault on our democracy by the world’s richest man. The Times even managed an editorial which, while describing Musk as a “problematic messenger”, backed his criticism of the government’s business policies. “While some of Mr Mussolini’s rhetoric is a little colourful for our taste, the government would do well to heed his views on railway timekeeping,” was very much the tone.

So what are you going to do about it, I hear you ask. Well, I’m not going to leave Twitter entirely - some part of me still believes the dictator will be toppled one day and wants to be there to see it - but I am going to remove the content which I suspect has been the main reason many people follow my ruskin147 account. Since Sophie, our Romanian rescue dog, arrived in our home in December 2022 my follower count has risen from 200,000 to 320,000. Lately, many of them have been in touch to say my daily posts with the hashtag #sophiefromromania are the only thing keeping them on Twitter.

These people remain a wonderfully loving and supportive community but given my contempt for what its owner is doing with the platform, it would seem hypocritical to do anything that supported his business. What is more, there are now viable alternative platforms where news of Sophie can reach a wide audience. For a long time I’ve used Instagram, where my rorycellan account has around 57,000 followers, but recently my BlueSky account rorycj.bsky.social has ridden the wave of enthusiasm for the Twitter-like service with followers soaring from 4,000 to 44,000 in a matter of weeks.

#SophieFromRomania can now be found on Instagram and BlueSky

Now, I don’t kid myself that Musk or anyone else will know or even care that a much-loved rescue dog is leaving his platform. I am also painfully aware that I am likely to lose far more followers on Twitter than I gain on Bluesky, although lately I’ve noticed that engagement per user is far higher on Bluesky since Musk fiddled with the algorithm so that anything with a link was downgraded.

I am also a bit worried that Bluesky could become a left wing filter bubble just as fast as Twitter has become the darling of the right. I made a conscious effort in 2010 when I was the BBC’s Digital Election Correspondent to follow every politician and activist across the political spectrum so I am hoping that this broad audience follows me to other platforms.

In my experience, dog owners and enthusiasts come in all shapes and sizes, of every political persuasion and none so I urge them all to follow #sophiefromromania on BlueSky and Instagram with a guarantee of wholesome doggy content and no politics!