Twitter Is Trying To Destroy Itself

Bots have been trying to take over my Twitter account for years.

I’m not really sure why. Almost once a day or more, a request comes in by text to authenticate my account, even though I’m not trying to login.

It’s either a bot or a hacker I’m sure, someone (or something) that has correctly guessed my password but, thankfully, can’t access my account because they don’t have the authentication code.

That’s all about to change in only a few short weeks.

Twitter has decided to force users to pay for two-factor authentication (or 2FA) by text, which is about the lamest thing the company has done in recent years.

It’s lame even compared to all of the either lame things the social media firm has tried recently. To use 2FA, you have to pay for Twitter Blue or choose another way to authenticate, such as an intermediary app.

Here’s the problem with this “revenue” strategy.

For me, it’s not worth the time or the money. I rely on two-factor authentication to keep my account safe, but I’m not that interested in using another app. Texting me a code is a bit time-consuming, but not that much of a hardship. I also like getting the texts right on my Mac to authenticate. More importantly, it’s ridiculous to force users to upgrade to use a service that has always been free.

I’m trying to figure out why I would pay Twitter to make sure hackers can’t break into my account. I’ve already determined the other Twitter Blue benefits are not worthwhile. If anything, they reveal that social media can be a waste of time and does not provide enough value to bother paying actual money to use the apps.

More and more, I’m seeing ads and “sponsored content” show up in my feed, so in some ways, I’d be paying to see more ads.

The solution here is to move the other direction.

I want to see more free services, more benefits that come from merely being willing to look at ads in the first place. If anything, this is a time to lure us into social media apps with perks and new features we are not expecting to keep us from abandoning the services altogether.

For one thing, there are just too many great apps out there, and too many ways to communicate and dialogue with people. If WhatsApp is safer and provides a way to communicate with others quickly and efficiently, and doesn’t charge me for the privilege, why would I even bother with Twitter? I can disconnect my account and still view the content if needed. There are plenty of Twitter clones these days that are happy to provide 2FA without charging me.

Which leaves me at a crossroads.

I haven’t decided what to do, because I already disabled Twitter Blue after realizing it provided no value. I don’t really want to sign-up again to that service again, but I don’t really want to use an app to authenticate. Which is funny, because this could mean I can’t use Twitter then. It’s not like I want to get hacked. But I also don’t want to pay the company so I don’t get hacked.

I’m curious if you are in the same dilemma, so drop a note on my Twitter feed by tagging @johnbrandonmn and let me know if you are going to pay for the protection.