Will we ever get back the cohort that was "Theatre Twitter"?

by Sam Baird, Guest Editorial

Many people on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter are following and losing track of the constant changes to the platform. These changes have been quick and drastic since the sale of Twitter, now known as X, in October of 2022.

While many people have jumped ship to forum networks such as Reddit and Discord or tried their hand at the new Meta equivalent Threads, many Twitter users still hold on to what they have on that platform. One thing that has kept me and others tethered to Twitter is the ability to keep a community built over the years, one of these being “Theater Twitter.”

Theater Twitter is the subset of users who either work in the theatre industry or are fans of it. We can find directors, dramaturgs, writers, performers, technicians, and administrators within that community of users. I identify with a few of those titles and don’t know what I would do without my “Theater Twitter” cohort. It is within this group of people that I was able to find solace in 2020 when in-person theater wasn’t possible. It is these artists that introduce current events and controversies to me in my small city that exists without many arts opportunities.

Since the changes on Twitter began, I’ve noticed certain voices missing in this sphere. It’s that phenomenon where it’s harder to notice when something is there, but when it’s gone, it’s glaringly obvious. Not only are certain voices gone, but others are consistently making tweets/posts about being done with the changes and the platform and hoping to move elsewhere.

Unfortunately, there isn’t a great platform similar enough to Twitter that would be worth the move or would pull enough of Theater Twitter for many of us not to feel like we are losing a part of our community.

I’ve seen suggestions to move to Reddit, but Reddit doesn’t have quite the same sense of speaking something into existence and receiving feedback quickly. Others have suggested Discord, but I personally feel like maybe not as many people know how Discord works. That could be me projecting since I don’t understand it, but I concede.

I am a member of LMDA, the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, and our organization recently developed Slack as a member benefit. It has given me some community feeling, but I don’t feel it’s plausible for the entirety of Theater Twitter to move to a Slack channel.

There might not be one real answer that would solve this problem. Still, I often wonder how many other theater artists are sitting at home or at work mourning the loss of the community we once had on Twitter. This social media platform will never be the same and is difficult to replace.