An indus­tri­al­ist might soon pur­chase Twit­ter, Inc. His sub­stan­tial suc­cess launch­ing reusable space­ships does noth­ing to pre­pare him for the chal­lenge of build­ing social spaces. The lat­ter calls on every lib­eral art at once, while the for­mer is just rocket science.

Arguing about the future of Twit­ter is a loser’s game; a dead end. The plat­form’s only con­clu­sion can be abandonment: an over­due MySpace-ification.

Features come and go, lit­tle embroi­deries and fascinations, but the time­line remains, Twit­ter’s deep­est warp. It has been there from the start, its logic invisible, inescapable, non-negotiable. (Fleets were different, weren’t they? Yes — and their quick demise had the feel­ing of an immune response.)

“Warp” as in struc­tural thread; “warp” as in distortion.

There are so many ways peo­ple might relate to one another online, so many ways exchange and con­vivi­al­ity might be organized. Look at these screens, this wash of pixels, the liq­uid potential! What a colos­sa