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  • NEWS FEATURE

Twitter changed science — what happens now it’s in turmoil?

The microblogging platform has transformed research communication, but its future is in doubt.
  1. Chris Stokel-Walker

    1. Chris Stokel-Walker is a freelance journalist in Newcastle, UK.

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Twitter logo displayed on a phone screen is seen through the broken glass

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In November, Vince Knight decided he’d had enough of Twitter. After more than a decade on the social-media platform, Knight — a mathematician at Cardiff University, UK — was concerned about the site’s direction under its new owner, entrepreneur Elon Musk, who began laying off vast numbers of staff shortly after he acquired it. “Twitter is getting uncomfortable,” wrote Knight on the platform; he then jumped ship to Mastodon, a competing service. He says he simply didn’t want to support Musk’s Twitter any more.

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Nature 613, 19-21 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-04506-6

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