Great post, but I'm slightly confused at your definitions (or lack thereof). Particularly footnote 4. If 80% of social media-inclined academics leave Twitter and set up a community on Bluesky, then this community is a similar size group to Academic Twitter. But you call this a Benedict Option? - this seems to contradict footnote 4.
I'm interested both in your definitions and in why you draw a distinction between small Benedicts and big Benedicts - and why you don't regard a big Benedict as a Benedict. What makes a large defection existentially different to a small defection?
I partly define it that way because as I understand it that's consistent with Dreher's definition. He's proposing this in a contest where he sees Christians as too small in number to contest and win in general society, so they have to opt out. But also, there's a fairly fundamental difference between 'small enclave secedes while larger society carries on' and 'two parallel ecosystems of equivalent size and impact'.
Possibly there's a confusion here about what the denominator is? If 80% of academics leave Twitter that's still a Benedict option because academics make up a small fraction of total Twitter - this is academics creating their own enclave while the main conversation is going on elsewhere. If everyone on the left leaves Twitter, while everyone on the right stays, that's more like two ecosystems.
(I think the founders of BlueSky hoped it would be more like the latter, but based on the numbers it's clearly more like the former).
It seems like BlueSky (and other platforms) see quite a bump in new users and other metrics when Musk does something really distasteful/provocative (which nearly always inflames the centre/left)
But now he has turned on Trump which will attract some of them back as that's entertaining for some. There's a kind of osmosis between "I can't stand this any more, Musk/X is too awful" and "Lol, this should be fun to watch" plus a general drifting back to X if the stuff that repelled them abates for a while. Maybe your graph of decaying Daily Likes reflects a short spell where centre/left users felt less enraged by Musk (he stepped away from Doge around the middle of your graph but I think he had toned things down quite a bit before then)
I don't place X on a pedestal as "the mainstream" - the user count is meaningless for me, because the quality of the vast majority of users/tweets falls below my personal threshold. I accept there is still plenty of interesting content to be found there, but I just can't be bothered to wade through the sludge to find it any more.
Another argument for stepping away from certain platforms (X/TikTok/Facebook/Threads) is how addictive they tend to become for many, these are infinite scroll feeds and you can spend far longer than is optimal stuck on them. Some users might prefer BlueSky in the same way a heroin user probably feels happier if they can somehow move away to something less strong. Sure there are apps to help manage your time on any of these platforms, but I think it's a win for most people's mental health to get away from them as much as possible.
Yes, I think your description of 'bump then drift back' describes what happens well.
X is objectively the mainstream in that this is still where most politicians / organisations / celebrities / etc are plus more than an order of magnitude bigger than any rival. But liking it better/finding it less addictive/less sludge are all great reasons not to be on it!
become fed up with Twitter’s algorithmic deterioration and tolerance of abuse [decide] to instead join BlueSky.
I'm interested, if disappointed, to hear that Bluesky's early promise has petered out. I guess they needed Musk to keep doing more outrageous things to sustain their growth.
Ofsted regulating non-paid childcare has been precarious. The 2006 Childcare Act made it illegal to baby-sit for more than two hours at a time or on more than 14 days a year unless you're approved by Ofsed. When Ofsted tried to enforce this against two police women who looked after each other’s kids when the other was working the public backlash was so strong that then Education Secretary Ed Balls told Ofsted to back off.
I think this means the law is already in place, and it's only the whim of the education secretary (and public opinion), that prevents non-paid childcare being regulated.
"How much did all those in public institutions who thought gender ideology had gone too far - and there must surely have been many - prior to the Cass Review being published?" is missing a verb (probably do).
Yes, agree the state has non-monetary compensation for childcare covered (at least in theory), just like benefits in kind for tax purposes. What I meant is you can still send your child for a sleepover or similar without the state trying to interfere.
BlueSky has been more successful than previous attempts in that it appears to have hit the critical mass necessary for a self-sustaining community. But it seems to have plateaued at a fairly small level.
Great post, but I'm slightly confused at your definitions (or lack thereof). Particularly footnote 4. If 80% of social media-inclined academics leave Twitter and set up a community on Bluesky, then this community is a similar size group to Academic Twitter. But you call this a Benedict Option? - this seems to contradict footnote 4.
I'm interested both in your definitions and in why you draw a distinction between small Benedicts and big Benedicts - and why you don't regard a big Benedict as a Benedict. What makes a large defection existentially different to a small defection?
I partly define it that way because as I understand it that's consistent with Dreher's definition. He's proposing this in a contest where he sees Christians as too small in number to contest and win in general society, so they have to opt out. But also, there's a fairly fundamental difference between 'small enclave secedes while larger society carries on' and 'two parallel ecosystems of equivalent size and impact'.
Possibly there's a confusion here about what the denominator is? If 80% of academics leave Twitter that's still a Benedict option because academics make up a small fraction of total Twitter - this is academics creating their own enclave while the main conversation is going on elsewhere. If everyone on the left leaves Twitter, while everyone on the right stays, that's more like two ecosystems.
(I think the founders of BlueSky hoped it would be more like the latter, but based on the numbers it's clearly more like the former).
It seems like BlueSky (and other platforms) see quite a bump in new users and other metrics when Musk does something really distasteful/provocative (which nearly always inflames the centre/left)
But now he has turned on Trump which will attract some of them back as that's entertaining for some. There's a kind of osmosis between "I can't stand this any more, Musk/X is too awful" and "Lol, this should be fun to watch" plus a general drifting back to X if the stuff that repelled them abates for a while. Maybe your graph of decaying Daily Likes reflects a short spell where centre/left users felt less enraged by Musk (he stepped away from Doge around the middle of your graph but I think he had toned things down quite a bit before then)
I don't place X on a pedestal as "the mainstream" - the user count is meaningless for me, because the quality of the vast majority of users/tweets falls below my personal threshold. I accept there is still plenty of interesting content to be found there, but I just can't be bothered to wade through the sludge to find it any more.
Another argument for stepping away from certain platforms (X/TikTok/Facebook/Threads) is how addictive they tend to become for many, these are infinite scroll feeds and you can spend far longer than is optimal stuck on them. Some users might prefer BlueSky in the same way a heroin user probably feels happier if they can somehow move away to something less strong. Sure there are apps to help manage your time on any of these platforms, but I think it's a win for most people's mental health to get away from them as much as possible.
Yes, I think your description of 'bump then drift back' describes what happens well.
X is objectively the mainstream in that this is still where most politicians / organisations / celebrities / etc are plus more than an order of magnitude bigger than any rival. But liking it better/finding it less addictive/less sludge are all great reasons not to be on it!
the Musa al Gharbi insight excellent. thanks
become fed up with Twitter’s algorithmic deterioration and tolerance of abuse [decide] to instead join BlueSky.
I'm interested, if disappointed, to hear that Bluesky's early promise has petered out. I guess they needed Musk to keep doing more outrageous things to sustain their growth.
Ofsted regulating non-paid childcare has been precarious. The 2006 Childcare Act made it illegal to baby-sit for more than two hours at a time or on more than 14 days a year unless you're approved by Ofsed. When Ofsted tried to enforce this against two police women who looked after each other’s kids when the other was working the public backlash was so strong that then Education Secretary Ed Balls told Ofsted to back off.
Original story: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2009/sep/28/government-orders-review-babysitting-police
Government U-turn: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/delight-at-childcare-rule-uturn-6722758.html
I think this means the law is already in place, and it's only the whim of the education secretary (and public opinion), that prevents non-paid childcare being regulated.
"How much did all those in public institutions who thought gender ideology had gone too far - and there must surely have been many - prior to the Cass Review being published?" is missing a verb (probably do).
"And Even" has more capitals than it deserves.
"takinh" has an off by one error at the end.
Yes, agree the state has non-monetary compensation for childcare covered (at least in theory), just like benefits in kind for tax purposes. What I meant is you can still send your child for a sleepover or similar without the state trying to interfere.
BlueSky has been more successful than previous attempts in that it appears to have hit the critical mass necessary for a self-sustaining community. But it seems to have plateaued at a fairly small level.
Typos corrected - thank you!