This is a story about the love and support I've found on Twitter, the fractious state of the platform, and my experience in interviewing for a job to try and fix it from within. Ultimately, it's a personal narrative; a part of my endeavor to be a more emotionally honest person Online™. 💞
It was actually raining as I left my hotel in Portland the day after XOXO — a conference ostensibly about indie makers but actually about Feelings. This is noteworthy because I live in San Francisco which, while intense, is rarely this dramatically poignant. I dried my eyes and tried to forgive the cleaning staff who had just chased me out of my room.
Live footage of me leaving my hotel after XOXO
Every year, XOXO floods me with a physical manifestation of The Internet as a big, complex, deeply human place. Overjoyed hugs from old conference friends remind me of slipping my phone from my pocket and falling headlong into a beautiful, weird conversation with some of my best online friends. Horror stories, tearfully, carefully recalled on stage, remind me of the malice that often lies just outside our digital peripheral vision — the randos yearning for attention at our expense. I leave every XOXO a little more committed to the idea that the internet is wonderful, and needs our help.
Which is why I had taken the offer to interview. I had been on the phone with a recruiter right up until the cleaning crew alerted me to the fact that I was a whole hour late. I didn't get the job. What I did do was storm off to the nearest Starbucks, plant myself in a chair, and fire off a tweet.
https://twitter.com/pcperini/status/1171148382137487361
I expected a few "you'll get it next time"s from my closest friends. What I got was an outpouring of specific, meaningful support from all manner of people I love and respect.
https://twitter.com/HoldenthePage/status/1171149328058130432?s=20
https://twitter.com/AdamSinger/status/1171152032008261633?s=20
https://twitter.com/mengxilu/status/1171211553280090112?s=20
https://twitter.com/nwilliams030/status/1171179433962741761?s=20
https://twitter.com/alex/status/1171151653082456066?s=20
https://twitter.com/EricFriedman/status/1171150101508755467?s=20
https://twitter.com/imcatnoone/status/1171152254906355712?s=20
https://twitter.com/kitmueller/status/1171150287442251776?s=20
https://twitter.com/jeffweisbein/status/1171173071321010182?s=20
I genuinely have never felt so supported. For all its faults, Twitter is truly a place where magical human connection can — and does — happen. The irony is that the job I was interviewing for was at Twitter, on their Health & Safety team, trying to improve some of those aforementioned faults.
Senior Product Manager, Information Integrity
Including the still-live job post is probably telling on myself. Oh well.
In preparation for the interview, I dove into research, which I discovered both individually and through my work at the Center for Humane Technology. If you’re interested, I published the study guide: Information Integrity and Twitter, which saw me through many nuanced conversations about how to improve the platform.
The interview process took approximately 4 weeks and covered a half-dozen interviewers. In that time I was astounded at the conscientiousness of nearly everyone I spoke to. I got a strong sense that they were striving every day to do the right thing, and on an individual level, I respect that. Organizationally, the company is still facing substantial challenges and seems, at the very least, willing to accept a painfully slow approach to finding and attempting solutions. So slow, Bob Iger walked away from a potential acquisition.
Bob Iger on why Disney walked away from Twitter: 'The nastiness is extraordinary'
Twitter has always meant a lot to me, if not to Bob. I met my partner and so many of my friends there. It's where I met my first employee at MegaBits, and where I got my first job in San Francisco. It's a big part of how I'm choosing to grow Project Mobilize, and in many ways it's my digital home. But it's also very much on fire, and being brandished by fascists and abusers intent on doing harm.