NephJC is happy to publish the thoughts and editorial views of members of #NephTwitter. Here is an essay by Dr. Nikhil Shah, member of the first NSMC class.
#NephTwitter is a close knit, mutually respectful, tremendously helpful community. Over the years nephrologists have successfully harnessed the power of social media to create a worldwide community of nephrology enthusiasts. It is an inclusive community without barriers or discrimination, all coming together for the love of kidneys and homeostasis.
For the last decade, Twitter has been the primary vehicle for the formation and growth of this community. Twitter is the home of #NephJC, #NephMadness, the #NSMC internship, and #AskRenal, among others. Additionally, Twitter has enabled synchronous and asynchronous interactions among people located thousands of miles apart and in vastly different time zones. These interactions have lead to research projects, innovations, and launched or boosted many careers in nephrology.
Recently Twitter was bought by Mr. Elon Musk. The subsequent mass firings, employee exodus, rumors of multiple law suits, and legal entanglements have resulted in a waterfall of doomsday messages suggesting it was merely a matter of WHEN and not IF Twitter will collapse and shut down.
#NephTwitter felt the uncertainty acutely. Together, we have created something dear and precious. We have a village. And this chaos at Twitter was threatening to rip us apart. People started a #TwitterMigration choosing to open accounts at Mastodon or other platforms which were not controlled by one eccentric person. Change is never easy, especially when the change is to a clunkier platform. And for busy clinicians such a change unfortunately leads to disillusionment from social media itself. We saw this happen over the last 2 weeks. Some of the brightest minds in nephrology fell silent. Their thoughts ranged from - should I post on Twitter or Mastodon or both, how on earth will I be able to keep up with multiple SoMe platforms, leading a few to say - F@#$ it! time to quit social media.
In the face of this torrent, I make my plea to my fellow #NephTwitter friends
Twitter is now Elon Musk's giant playground. It is big enough to have lots of activities going on at the same time, all the time. He has the power to allow, remove, or charge people. We are off in one tiny corner of this playground having a productive time. Yes, in the distance we can see there is chaos on the playground, bullies being bullies, soapbox people doing soapbox things. And now Elon lets in the biggest bully in the world. But isn't that true for every large community? This chaos is still far away from us, unless we go over and join. The community we really value doesn’t have to engage with the larger chaos. Why does it matter to us? Why can we not continue to enjoy and enrich our community in our corner of the playground? Why should Trump's arrival mark another #TwitterMigration when the only folks to be disadvantaged are us and our community? Sorry but that Mastodon stuff really is not good.
What happens to Twitter in the future is unknown, but today we are together, and we are collectively stronger, more helpful, and more knowledgeable. Let's continue doing that until Twitter stops working.
Yes, we must have options to fall back on, if that truly does happen, but until then let's keep our community, our village , our# NephTwitter together here. Create your Mastodon account but keep it in the back pocket. Keep posting and supporting each other here on Twitter.
Dr. Nikhil Shah, MBBS DNB
Clinical Assistant Professor, University of Alberta
Social Media Editor, PD International