So today I clicked a twitter link because companies like to use it for official announcements, only to be greeted with a login page. Was annoyed then I remembered nitter exists. It just prompted me to install Privacy Redirect which I should have done ages ago.
Github: https://github.com/SimonBrazell/privacy-redirect
Chrome Web Store: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/privacy-redirect/pmcmeagblkinmogikoikkdjiligflglb/related
Firefox Browser Add-ons: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/privacy-redirect/
Looks like twitter waited for the reddit API changes to do push this change to try to do it under the radar.
As much as I hate the idea of Yet Another Social Media App, I kind of wish there was some sort of official government-specific platform that was only available to state/local/federal government(s) or organizations for making important announcements. No memberships required (other than posters or commenters), no likes, upvotes, or retweeting or whatever, just postings of information that people can get to from anywhere. Something completely untied from any corporate entities.
They could easily have their own websites based on Mastodon or Lemmy, not federated with anything.
Or just use RSS.
The Brazilian government send SMS to people for alerts. It’s independent of apps, and everyone with a phone can get them.
Seems like a good solution for important warnings.
I don’t use twitter, but I’ll check the local utilities twitter if there is a power outage so I can learn about updates, or the local transit twitter if there are delays, things like that. SMS isn’t very practical for those kinds of infrequent uses.