Why you need to head over to X today

I started a Twitter account, now known as X, back in 2009 and barely used it. A big fan of Facebook, there were literally years between times I logged into my account, often having to reset my password because I forgot it. On the other hand, I was on Facebook daily, if not for my personal interactions with friends and family, but to get my news and information on local, state and national events.

But back in 2020, I put up a post on my Facebook about how my husband had forgotten to take out the trash that day, and how uncooked chicken in the trash was now going to sit for another week in the trash can. A lighthearted, joking conversation took place in the comment section where I joked that if my husband did it again, he was sleeping in the doghouse.

Facebook suspended my account. For 60 days, I lost access to posting photos, talking to friends and family and even my valuable Facebook memories that were like a virtual photo album. Feeling slighted, I realized at that moment Facebook’s overreach was just too much.

Back when Elon Musk purchased Twitter in 2022 and renamed it X, I jumped over to the platform to revisit my account. And while my algorithm was somewhat distorted due to lack of use, I found it refreshing that there were very few restrictions on speech. I hosted a radio show back then and I remember being on-air and likening X to the wild wild west. It was a free speech free for all and I loved it.

I soon found that if there was something newsworthy in a video form, that I could not find on Facebook or Instagram, all I had to do was go over to X and there it was. I barely had to look for it and most times, it was trending. So, not only did they not hide it, they actually made it easier for me to find what I wanted. It was refreshing and, in a way, I appreciated that X trusted me to understand that if I wanted to see something, it was there and if I didn’t, I simply just had to look away. What a novel idea.

Earlier this year, I began to cover the Karen Read murder trial and the Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney cases. When I was in the courtroom, I jumped on X and started to tweet out what I was observing in real time. It seemed like a great way to engage followers and make them feel more connected to the courtroom. In just a few months, it became my preferred method of reporting court hearings, even those hearings closer to home in Fall River District Court.

It seemed like readers agree. Yesterday, after reporting live from the Karen Read trial, in real time, our Fall River Reporter X account gained 1200 in just 24 hours. Over the course of the past six months, our followers have grown from 550 to over 7000.

It’s a Presidential election year and after the 2020 election when we have now learned Facebook pushed news articles related to the Hunter Biden laptop down in your newsfeeds, I look ahead to X being the platform to not only report on local, state and national election news, for it to be the place where voters go to get informed. I’m a firm believer that giving readers as much information as possible and letting them make their own decisions, whether it’s about who should be president or if Karen Read murdered John O’Keefe, is best for everyone and X is where that happens.

Want to see more? Head over to our account here or my account to see what all the buzz is about. I am Norfolk Superior Court reporting on another riveting day of testimony in the Karen Read trial and you can read all about it.