Twitter Disaster

Over a decade ago, when I was in college, my professor told me I had to get Twitter. I thought it was a dumb app, had zero desire to join (I've always been a bit of a late adopter), and ended up writing my next paper about how Twitter was terrible.

Then I got an account.

As someone who's spent the majority of their life communicating with people via the internet on message boards, chat rooms, and LiveJournal, I realized how comfortable I felt using an app that relied primarily on text. It allowed me to express my thoughts, but pushed me to do so in creative ways to fit the (then) 140-character limit.

Twitter is a platform I get. I know the unspoken rules, the history of memes and Twitter Characters of the Day, the way to craft a tweet. But it's also a platform I absolutely love. It gives an insight into someone's personality and life in a way that a lot of other platforms don't. It allows for connection in a way that other apps don't.

But outside of just enjoying the platform for what it is, I also have been relying on it for the growth of my business over the past year and a half. I have by far the biggest following on Twitter, and it's one of the few social media platforms that allows nudity, advertising of subscription pages, porn sites, etc. When my Instagram got banned this summer, Twitter was the reason I was able to stay afloat. The vast majority of my subscribers come from Twitter and I'm GOOD at Twitter, damnit. I understand how to grow and build on that app.

So what happens to me, and countless other sex workers, who rely on Twitter as one of the few major platforms with a large user base that allows us to openly promote our work? Okay, there might be another text-based alternative that will pop up - how long will it take to accrue the number of users Twitter has? Will they be SW-friendly? Will I be able to build a following on a completely new platform?

Instagram is incredibly strict with their community guidelines, and I'm already shadowbanned (which has meant that the 20% of followers I was able to get back after my original account was banned barely see my content, and it's nearly impossible to get new followers because of it.) It also now heavily relies on reels, a medium I don't feel super confident working in yet.

TikTok is another platform that doesn't allow you to openly advertise your work, having to refer to ourselves as accountants and spicy creators instead of being able to just say the words OnlyFans. We can't link to our content or outright advertise. And similar to reels, the mental capacity it takes to make a few videos per day, every day, is just more than I can give at the moment. TikTok has an algorithm I can't crack, and a medium I'm not comfortable in.

Reddit can be really lucrative for sex workers, but where I'm non-nude on socials, it limits the traction I'm able to get on the site. Besides, I feel like a lot of its users are conditioned to expect free OF pages, and so they get turned off by my $10/month price tag. I've had very little success converting free followers on LoyalFans to paid subscribers, so I'm reluctant to start a free OF page, put all the work into building it up, maintaining a FOURTH page (not counting social media), for the possibility of a couple new paying customers.

Twitch can be another lucrative page, but I don't game, I don't have the current knowledge or capacity to stream wrestling (or other) content, and I already cam twice a week. I'm not sure I'm willing to start camming 4-5 days a week while also trying to build up a following on yet another site.

Tumblr is back, but I've yet to see much conversion from followers to subscribers on the site yet, but we'll see how it goes over the coming months.

All this to say, there's nothing quite like Twitter. Despite my great tits, my personality has always been my biggest asset when it comes to my career, and Twitter has been the best platform to properly showcase it.

What do I do when I don't have that platform to share my thoughts and promote my pages?

Maybe we're all blowing this out of proportion; maybe Twitter will survive. Maybe a great alternative will be widely adopted. Maybe I'll finally get the hang of TikTok.

But until then - I'm stressed and sad at the prospect of losing the app that's allowed me to make a living out of being cute and witty on the internet.