ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
As Twitter workers abandon the platform in droves, some are posting emotional goodbyes. And many Twitter users have joined the chorus, tweeting short eulogies for the platform in anticipation of changes they expect ahead.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
For more than a decade, the social media site has been a place where people have sought information, advocacy, entertainment, community. Donyale Padgett, a professor at Wayne State University, is honoring Black Twitter.
DONYALE PADGETT: I have relied on Black Twitter for so much. It has been a place of refuge. It has been a place of humor. It is a record of something profound that has happened. That is where you want to go to really follow and track the conversation. And I think that is at risk.
WENDI MUSE: My name is Wendi. I have MS, so I happen to be on what we call disability Twitter. A lot of people were having trouble accessing N95s on their limited pay. I had a huge stockpile. So I literally just said, if you need N95s, send me a DM. In total, it's going to be more than 12,000 masks that I've sent out. I'm a bit emotional about it, especially for people who are disabled who maybe don't have social networks in person right now.
AZUCENA RASILLA: My name is Azucena Rasilla, and I'm an arts and community reporter for The Oaklandside. I didn't come from a pipeline of, like, an Ivy League school or J-school. And in general, obviously for, like, brown reporters - right? - there aren't that many ways for us to, like, get our name out there. And I'll never forget writing about Prince's last concert. I tagged Prince, and then he retweeted. Oh, my God, this is, like, the best tool ever.
DAN SHEEHAN: My name is Dan Sheehan. I'm a writer living in Los Angeles. I started using Twitter when I was in high school. Tweeting out jokes got me some of my first job offers. None of that could have been done through traditional means. It's allowed so many people to basically be present in spaces that they wouldn't have been allowed to be present in otherwise.
SHAPIRO: That was Dan Sheehan, Azucena Rasilla, Wendi Muse and Donyale Padgett, four Twitter users talking about how the platform has changed their lives. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
