Moving on from NBA Twitter
In the end, all we have is each other
On Wednesday, Substack’s On Substack newsletter, which I apparently subscribe to, published a piece, “Toward a better media system.” The letter is both a summary of the current social media environment and, because this is Substack’s newsletter about itself, a press release of sorts that the company is investing in better search engine optimization and audience growth. While more hits to this letter from people searching, “meandering exploration of Washington Wizards line-ups” would be cool, it’s the media environment summary that caught my interest.
The piece is responding to changes in Twitter’s policies that have limited sharing newsletter links and embedding tweets. It then provides a nice rundown of the perils of relying on various platforms to promote work and connect:
Ad-based social platforms want writers’ and creators’ audiences glued to their feeds, and they design their products to keep them from leaving. In 2012, Twitter stopped embedding Instagram posts after Facebook acquired the photo-sharing app. Today, Facebook deprioritizes links that take people away from its feed. Google prioritizes YouTube search results over TikTok and Vimeo.
The main point is that no company wants to allow users to post anything that’s going to take eyeballs away from ads they host for tummy shrinking tea and shows on a streaming platform that probably won’t be around in a year. This all fits into a broader trend over the past month reflecting on how social media has changed and, more broadly, what the 2010s were. Former Buzzfeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith’s book, Traffic, is a big part of this, but we’re also 13 years out from a the start of a decade that feels very familiar and also slightly different in ways that people are just beginning to understand.1 Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter has also led people to look back at what Twitter was (is?). In case any of this is new, Musk’s purchase has led to a largely marginal platform becoming less relevant, and is generally part of the enshitifcation of the internet, wherein platforms invest a ton early on to get users and then more or less turn their platforms fully over to advertisers.
But there has always been Twitter—the culturally important but largely inconsequential social media platform—and NBA Twitter—the source of many off-court feuds, controversies, hot takes, conspiracy theories, and, I’ll just say it, joyful moments related to the multiverse that is professional basketball in the 21st century. As Twitter teeters on the brink, or at least becomes less enjoyable, it’s worth considering what, if anything, this means for the Wizards community.
Some comments on Twitter
As a Wizards fan and semi-early adopter of Twitter (~2009), I’ve seen several waves of Wiz drama come and go. From the Gilbert Arenas pranks to John Wall doing John Wall things to G-Wiz never failing to land a punchline. I am sure there is some version of this for every fanbase, but in DC, there are times when all we’ve had is the community of snarky diehards who offer a mix of insight, shitposts, and poorly photoshopped memes. Maybe it’s the Musk purchase, maybe people have moved elsewhere and I’m too old to hang, but this community and mix of voices has dwindled, or at least the mix of folks I see in my feed.
I am not so naive to think that Twitter was ever a wonderful town square of basketball Lincoln-Douglas debates. Twitter’s power has largely been the fact that powerful people used it and let the rest of us in. Potential Twitter replacements, like BlueSky, seem to have the first part (the powerful), but not much else. There are very few ways for the regular people to barge in on the conversations of the Wizards front office, press, players, and owner. While other platforms have had their wins in forcing issues or getting noticed, Twitter was where all of these folks were on a daily basis. It’s not clear that is going to be the case in the future as people leave Twitter. After the Musk purchase, the value of Twitter as a gathering place has plummeted. People will continue using it, but I don’t expect Ted Leonsis or other front office staff to put as much value in what they hear on the platform as they did in the past (and I don’t think they really listened all that much, but it was an outlet). Change is the only constant in life. But it’s worth asking if a people complain on the internet and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Everything new is old and old is new
It may or may not be relevant, but I don’t really like Twitter. On its own, outside of an NBA context, it requires an incredible amount of time and dedication just to figure out what the hell is going on. This is one reason the platform has never been broadly popular. NBA Twitter works because you can drop into its world just as a game is kicking off and then retreat to the safety and chaos of the real world shortly after the game ends. The other reason NBA Twitter works is also partly for the same reason Twitter overall has been culturally important: everyone is there.
Substack, and its riff on Twitter, Notes, might be able to capture some of this feeling. Reddit has long been going strong. I’m sure the kids are talking NBA on TikTok. The point, though, is that these, or some version of them under different names, have always existed in parallel with NBA Twitter as a central node. Players or commentators could tweet something and it would get re-posted on r/Washington Wizards or talked about on Discord. NBA Twitter’s value is not in the random link or funny one-liner, but the fact that it is where news is broken, where beefs are set and settled, and where we have all agreed it is ok to go as a general group. It’s the first, least interesting part of whatever drama is about to unfold. The best writing, takes, or responses happened elsewhere. This has been true for a while. But it’s not clear where we’ll all look, at least in the near term, if Twitter really crumbles.
Although I have already made a few caveats about social media being generally terrible, I think it’s worth noting, again, that I don’t really mourn the loss or deterioration of a billion dollar company, especially one that has severely messed up society and is now owned by a guy who isn’t doing anything to dispel stereotypes about white South Africans. We’re only human and humans do stupid things pretty much as soon as given the chance. Also, because we’re human, we’re resigned to repeat the same mistakes over and over. We’ve been here before, sort of.
Before NBA Twitter, there were NBA blogs. I’m talking about Free Darko, TruthAboutIt, and any number of other sites that had URLs ending in .blogspot. The sensibilities of many of the most prolific NBA Twitter personalities as well as the general tone of a lot of NBA writing in the 2010s was shaped by this loose group of mostly short-lived, sometimes well-written sites. My own sensibilities as fan were definitely shaped by people like Bethlehem Shoals and Jason Concepcion. But still, the problem these sites had that NBA Twitter solved was that there were dozens of them and unless they had some serious writers behind them (e.g., Free Darko) or caught the attention of the local press (e.g. WizzNutzz), you might not find them until whoever was behind posting had run out of steam.
But just like NBA Twitter followed NBA blogs, there will be something new. Maybe it’s already here. Maybe it’s just watching games while the group chat heats up. Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter what it is. I said before that change is the only constant. But that’s not quite right. While the Wizards, NBA, and the Internet all continue to change. The one other constant is the fans. We were here before Twitter and we’ll be around after. We’ve made it this far with this team, your Washington Wizards. If Kyle Kuzma starts posting cryptic messages on Substack Notes or TikTok or wherever, cool. Fans can discuss in the space that works for them and then get back to the thing we’re all here for: Wizards basketball.
Basketball is a way to connect. This is a very corny and very true statement. And misery loves company, so this is doubly true for Wizards basketball. Wizards fans may not have much, and they may not get much from ownership, but they will always have each other. At its best, NBA Twitter was like a good game of pick-up with all of the trash talking, joking, and intensity, but with .gifs thrown in. Twitter was one place this happened, but not the only one. And just like a good game of pick-up, the fun ends at some point, you go home, try to calm down, and then eventually make it back to the court to cut it up again with a bunch of likeminded strangers and a few familiar faces.