Book Twitter is Kind of the Worst

~ Never Not Reading

Honestly, twitter in general is just the worst. No kind of. Everyone is just so upset ALL OF THE TIME. Everyone is on there just yelling at everyone who disagrees with them, not listening to anything, treating the “other side” like they are the scum of the earth. It’s so awful!

When I started this blog, I made a twitter account because it’s just what you do. I didn’t expect to spend much time there, because I KNOW that twitter is the worst and I didn’t want to.

But then everyone started going on and on about how the bookish community on twitter is so amazing. So I gave it a shot. I thought, the book blogger community is so amazing, maybe book twitter will be fine. Maybe everyone is just on there supporting each other and being amazing.

No.

Book twitter is where all of the drama is. Book bloggers yelling at each other. Book bloggers yelling at authors. Book bloggers yelling at the publishing industry. Book bloggers yelling at LITERALLY ANYONE. Every day they are upset about something. And y’all, I am here to tell you, most of the time that something is not the something worth getting upset about.

And it is such a toxic place! One person decides there is something “problematic” about a book. And then all of the sudden THOUSANDS of people who HAVEN’T EVEN READ THE BOOK are writing 0-star reviews, calling for boycotting, tweeting @ the author, telling them to recall their book based on nothing other than hearsay! 

Just last month (or was it two months ago?) Blood Heir was pulled from publication and Amélie Wen Zhao’s career was basically ruined. By book twitter.

It’s just so exhausting. Going to twitter day in and day out and seeing people get completely worked up about books.

I get it, it’s exhausting to be discriminated against each day. I understand. I do. But at this point, it feels like people are looking for something to get upset about so they can prove how woke they are. Instead of getting upset about the actually terrible things out there (a recent Islamiphobic mass shooting comes to mind) they are finding books they haven’t read to have a problem about and kicking up a fuss.

I’m just done.

I love the book blogging community. I feel that y’all are supportive, and you are positive, and when you aren’t positive you try to find a way to be positive. You guys are the BEST. Thank you for being so amazing. But I’m going to be taking a step away from twitter. Because twitter is none of those things. I’ll still be there for the #CGBchat (we start today friends! follow our hashtag!) and I’ll still publish my posts and boost y’alls, but I’m not browsing anymore. Don’t expect me to like y’all tweets because I probably won’t be looking at them. It’s not you, it’s everyone else.

68 thoughts on “Book Twitter is Kind of the Worst”

  2. Everything about this post is amazing. I get so annoyed with the things that you mentioned, especially the 0-star reviews, and people just looking for something to bitch about. It gets tiring. I try my absolute hardest to stay positive on there and stay out of the drama, it’s difficult sometimes. And if there is one thing I always look forward to, it’s the #CGBChats.

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  4. I’ve been having the same frustration. I just started my blog and I know a lot of people go to twitter to promote and make friends but with all I’ve seen lately, I feel like it isn’t worth it. I am grateful for the blogging community and I’ve loved being able to read, comment, and interact with people on my blog.

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  5. I completely agree. Twitter is a toxic place. I have one, but my wife runs it mostly. She checks in once a day and writes a tweet and manages followers. It’s a place that shouldn’t be delved into too far.

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  7. 100% agree. Twitter literally sucks, but FYI, “Islamiphobia” is not a thing. Christians are mass murdered, their churches burned to the ground with them in it, etc. every day, but I never see it on any news source. Why? Because 1. They hate Christians (REAL ones at least) and 2. “Islamiphobia” matches their narrative and people will get angry over it, when in reality, Christianiphobia is far more realistic.

    For example, nearly 300 Christians were killed last month in a Muslim killing spree in Nigeria. Did you hear it? Nope.

    So yes, 50 Muslims killed by some far-right nutjob is terrible (a friend of a friend of mine actually tried to talk the shooter out of it) and should never happen, but honestly, that is an weekly ordeal for international Christians.

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    1. I stay away from discussions like this one because the American left doesn’t want to talk about Christians being murdered internationally. It directly contradicts the narrative they want to promote of Christians as the ultimate privilege. Which, in America, maybe they are, but I think both things can be true. Anyway, I just don’t want to start fights with those people.

      I disagree that Islamiphobia isn’t a thing. It absolutely is. Islamic refugees are being turned away from countries every day because people are frightened of them because they think they might be terrorists.

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      1. Agreed, but technically that wouldn’t be Islamiphobia, because those countries (even ours) are not afraid of the Muslims, but the Radicals among them. It’s all due to the fact around 2 – 3 years ago when ISIS and other militant groups said they were “mixing” with the innocent refugees. It’s all a big mess right now, and I don’t see a solution.

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        1. Well, okay, but we don’t let our fear of radical Christian groups (the KKK, for example) cause us to exclude Christians! It goes back waaaay further than ISIS, to 9/11. I agree that I don’t see a solution. It’s not unreasonable to be afraid of ISIS, but I do think it is unreasonable to let that fear cause us to treat everyone who looks like the COULD be from ISIS like a terrorist. That’s my opinion, and I know a lot of people disagree with it. Basically in 2019 it’s impossible to come to a compromise if you don’t agree with someone. Which I guess I am a little guilty of too.

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          1. Actually, that isn’t true. The KKK might have had members who claimed to be “Christians” but they could never be Christians, because that’s basically the exact opposite of what the Bible says.

            For example, abolitionists were all Christians and fought against slavery. The KKK and others, such as the White League and Knights of the White Camelia, were obviously not created by abolitionists (aka known as Republicans back then).

            So on the contrary, the ORIGINAL Qu’ran actually tells believers in Allah to “strike the neck” of all “infidels” aka unbelievers. Thus, it is not unreasonable to assume ISIS, Hezbollah, etc. are actually just “true” Muslims and it’s the “ordinary” and peaceful Muslims who are not following the original teachings of Mohammed (which is why ISIS and others hate Western Muslims). But that’s a whole other argument.

            But back to what you said, Christians in the West are legit hated and it is getting worse. If you follow the exact teachings of Jesus (homosexuality is a sin, no sex before marriage, etc.) people cannot stand you—even if you are nice. Christians I know have had their lives financially destroyed because either they simply didn’t bake a cake for a gay couple, said abortion is wrong, etc. And universities are continually pushing the notion that we’re not fighting radical islamic terrorism but rather “radical christianity.” Whatever that means.

            The anti-Christian epidemic is growing every year in the US.

            Sorry for the essay lol

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          2. We will have to agree to disagree. I am a practicing Christian and I am a member of a church that is fighting to get the denomination to accept gay members and ministers. If you follow the exact teachings of Jesus you will love your neighbor as yourself and forgive ALL of their sins.

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          3. See I don’t really understand this. Jesus never said you should forgive anyone. That’s his job. And homosexuality is a sin, plain and simple. And you need to treat it as a sin, the same way we treat adultery and murder. It’s a sin that can be stopped. Many LGBT people became straight—I’ve seen it myself. But society, in its evil, wants to make it look like a “scientific” problem (although there are instances where it is, except they are extremely rare). If the world hates you for it, good. They’re supposed to hate you for it, because if they don’t hate you, you’re trying to be one of them. Except for John, all of the original apostles were persecuted and murdered. Why? Read John 15:18-21.

            For example, read Romans 1:18 and 1 Corinthians 6:9. Sure, you can definitely love LGBTQ people. But love is an action word. It is NOT the definition the West has changed it to become. In your love, you show someone the right way and don’t let them go down a path that will eventually and undeniably lead to judgment.

            Here’s a good thing to remember—the kind of thing many Western Christians just don’t understand: Believe in the TRANSFORMATIVE power of Jesus, not the AFFIRMATIVE.

            I recommend Counter-Culture by David Platt.

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          4. “Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church[a] sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22

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          5. You’re totally missing the point, and you’re misunderstanding it as well. LGBTQ people are NOT sinning against you. They are sinning against God. Knowingly sinning against God. YOU have nothing to do with it. In this excerpt, Jesus is saying that if someone sins against YOU (like say he curses at you, etc.), you must forgive him. But when it is a sin against God, everything is different. You are commanded to teach them the truth, not a fake truth and utter lie the Western Church has spread. Paul said it. Daniel said it. God said it. Jesus said it. Every single LGBTQ person will spend an eternity burning in Hell. Just because the “times are changing” in no way means the teachings of the Trinity change with it. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

            Don’t get angry at me for telling you this. I’m just regurgitating what the Bible says.

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          6. I’m telling you this because the Western Church has been invaded by deception and false teachings, as Jesus himself prophesied would happen. And it’s happening now. It has sweeped through and is taking no prisoners.

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  8. I am also on twitter for my blog because I thought it was the thing to do. However I honestly have no idea how to work it, and I think it’s for the best because every time I try to scroll through it, it’s super negative like you said. So yes I will retweet friends posts about blog posts but that is it. 😀

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  10. Yes! I hear you. I was just having this exact conversation.
    I worry that not using Twitter will reduce my blog audience so I’m kinda stuck but all this drama is so draining.
    Twitter used to be a fun and happy place to be, now it’s just non stop anger.

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      1. You’ll be the fourth person this week that I’ve seen (rightly) walking away from Twitter. It makes me even more mad at the people yelling over the ones I want to follow.
        Will you be auto-sharing your posts so we can still stumble across them there?

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        1. I’ll still share my posts, and maybe even keep posting. But I was just talking with someone else about how I think I’m going to set up a list of folks I’m actively friends with so I can go check in on them instead of going to my home screen.

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  12. I know. Everyone on twitter is a special snowflake and I hate how everything upsets people these days. What happened to Blood Heir was unfortunate and I do not think it should have happened, but she is one of many authors who fell into the whole “this book is insensitive” crap, despite the fact that author states she wrote the book based on her country and culture

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    1. It was really upsetting that all of the people calling it insensitive didn’t, you know, READ IT, or take into consideration HER culture. I am also very disappointed that she didn’t stand up for her book more, but I can’t say I wouldn’t have caved under pressure like that too. I mean, people were treating her pretty horribly.

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  14. I can relate so much which is why I don’t do the book Twitter scene. I’m glad you brought up how aggressive people can be towards one another on there especially because this is supposed to be a welcoming community.

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      1. True that, people feel obligated to push their opinions on other people. It’s crazy how people can’t just trust one another but I suppose social media plays a major factor in this.

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  15. HAHAHAHAHA I read the title of this post and no lie, I said out loud, “Twitter in general is kind-of the worst, I think.” And then I read the first line of your post XD
    I’ve been off Twitter this entire year and I’m happy to be away from the toxicity, to be honest. Whether or not it affects the number of eyes we get on our blog, I’m not really concerned – I just don’t have the energy or emotional capacity to deal with people just there for DRAMA!

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  16. Yeah, it’s very easy to spread discord on Twitter. I’m trying to spend less time there and more time visiting blogs. It’s nice to read longer pieces that are somewhat less susceptible to misinterpretation than tweets.

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  17. So I recently got a twitter for the same reason of hyping my blog. (honestly hasn’t helped at all) and sometimes I find it great! (live tweeting hallmark movies? yes please!) but most of the time it makes me sad. So far I haven’t stopped just yet, but I haven’t seen a ton of pros just yet.

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  18. Oh gosh I really agree with you. I generally try to keep myself to myself on there cos… wow it goes off the rails fast. It is ONE HUNDRED PERCENT where all the drama goes down (there’s a new thing every day as well- don’t people that get involved in it get exhausted sometimes?) That’s just the worst thing to hear about books getting pulled and author’s careers ruined- I’ve seen a few articles about things like that recently and I just can’t see how people can feel good about this. If you don’t like the sound of a book, don’t read it; if you read it and don’t like it, write a review or something. But there’s never a need to harass someone online. Actually, that seems to be what a lot of people use twitter for- they just want a nice safe space… to @people they don’t know.

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  20. I have a Twitter account but I am super out of touch with it. I only use it to update on some readathon stuff and sometimes to post about ARCs I reviewed. What you’re describing sounds incredibly toxic and I am glad I am not part of this.

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  21. I completely agree with you about how it seems that Twitter is mostly used for attacking others online. There always seems to be a new argument being hashed out online and you can tell that people want to involve themselves even when they shouldn’t! I do believe that this platform has the power to do a lot of good, but the negatives tend to outweigh a lot of the benefits. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts about how intense Twitter has become for other bloggers like yourself. I was totally unaware of how crazy the book blogging community on Twitter was!

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    1. And it’s really a shame, because the book blogger community in general is so amazing! I think the toxic people on twitter mean well, but frankly it doesn’t matter how good your intentions are when you are literally ruining lives.

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  22. Pingback: Calling Out Call Out Culture – the orang-utan librarian

  23. The thing I find fascinating about Book Twitter is how self-contained it is. And I think maybe some publishers get unduly scared by it. The vast majority of book lovers are not on Book Twitter and may not even know it exists. Carve the Mark, for instance, was “controversial,” but it’s in every library and bookstore and sold very well–because the public has no clue someone on Book Twitter thinks they shouldn’t have read it. So they read it and found they liked it. And I guess not very many people agreed it was offensive or they’d have stopped buying it and the sequel might have been cancelled. In short, I think some publishers should reconsider if it’s worth bowing to Book Twitter. They’re loud, but not representative of the book community as a whole.

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