Putin’s War in Ukraine has Brought Out the Best, and Worst, of Twitter

Never did I expect to know so much about Russian military troop positions, the varying effectiveness of surface-to-air weaponry, and how to best boobytrap my house in the event of urban conflict. The overwhelming volume of helpful information that has ricocheted through verified Twitter accounts since the start of Putin’s war in Ukraine has been nothing short of remarkable. It demonstrates how an app, designed to share bursts of information in real time, can have a profound impact amidst a humanitarian crisis.

In the days and weeks since this conflict began, we have seen the very best of Twitter. Sadly, however, with the good came the bad.

Mixed emotions with Twitter are easy to come by. According to PEW Research Center, only about 20% of American adults use the app, yet it frequently dominates cable news storylines. Twitter can also create political echo chambers depending upon the accounts you follow, just like any social media algorithm. This is particularly dangerous when coupled with the realization that over 60% of popular links are shared from bot accounts. Then, of course, are the accounts that seek notoriety and trade solely in posturing or self-service.

While retired generals, scholars of urban warfare, and NGOs shared precise, fully translated instructional material for untrained Ukrainian citizens joining the fight or escape routes for those with young children looking to flee, some Twitter-verse megalomaniacs seemed unable to “change the record.” They tweeted familiar tunes, often trivial political points, because they were unable to think beyond the confines of their narrow lane. They used the crisis to amplify their own voice, instead of using their platform to amplify the voiceless.

 As the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie bluntly observed in a recent essay, these Twitter fixtures are “choking on sanctimony and lacking in compassion.” They dug into old habits of posturing their omniscience and moral superiority. But “owning the libs” or, conversely across the aisle, reminding people that Donald Trump used to be president, does little to help a Ukrainian child whose father was just executed by Russian soldiers.

Like it or not, the war in Ukraine is a tragic proxy for a much broader global conflict that has increased under our noses without our being fully aware. Former National Security Council member and Russia expert Fiona Hill has said as much: “we’ve been at war for a very long time.” In periods of global crisis, we ought to reflect upon and reconsider what motivates our behavior. In Twitter-speak: are you posting to raise tweet engagement and grow your account, or are you sharing information to benefit others regardless of follower metrics? (Hint: these are not mutually exclusive – you can grow your following while helping people.)

As the battle rages on, Twitter should be used as a platform for sharing information in service of others, not in service of ourselves. This is hardly a revolutionary idea.

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Co-authored by David Brendel and Ryan Stelzer, Think Talk Create: Building Workplaces Fit for Humans was published by the Hachette Book Group under the PublicAffairs imprint on September 21, 2021. Now available to order!