A low-budget, audacious quest to be the next Twitter

PLUS: More of WIRED's best longreads from this week.

View in browser  |  Your newsletter preferences  06.11.23 'Building a Platform Like Twitter Is Not Difficult' Back in November, when Twitter was really starting to lose its hubcaps, a few of WIRED's editors started brainstorming where to station a reporter for a month or so. We wanted to tell the story of the growing race to supplant Elon Musk's sputtering social giant, and we noticed that a guy named Christopher Bouzy had just announced his intention to create a brand new Twitter rival—from scratch. We brought the idea of going inside Bouzy's new project to longtime WIRED contributor Brendan Koerner, one of our favorite writers. However successful Bouzy's efforts proved to be, we figured that following this particularly audacious quest to unseat Twitter would reveal something about this moment of twitchy indeterminacy in the history of social media—a moment when everyone is trying to recapture what they loved most about "early Twitter," even as they pickle further in their own jadedness about life online. Would Bouzy be able to realize his ambition of building a kinder, gentler platform that still buzzed and crackled? On that question, and in a lot of other ways, the story turned out to reveal way more than we expected. —John Gravois | Features Editor READ THE FULL STORY You Might Also Like How to Leave a Platform When the Party's Over BY JAMESON RICH | 7-MINUTE READ Elon Musk's degradation of Twitter may seem like a loss, but social platforms aren't built to last forever. My time on a 2000s illness blog taught me that. The Doughnut Wars Are Here BY MATT REYNOLDS | 9-MINUTE READ Doughnut-makers are reinventing the sugary treat in response to the UK's new food display rules. But will healthier confections satisfy your cravings? ADVERTISEMENT Don't Want Students to Rely on ChatGPT? Have Them Use It BY C.W. HOWELL | 3-MINUTE READ It's easy to forget how little students and educators understand generative AI's flaws. Once they actually try it out, they'll see that it can't replace them. The End of Influencers on Instagram BY STEPHANIE MCNEAL | 6-MINUTE READ Creators are tired of being at the mercy of platforms. What would it take to own their relationship with their audience? The Upper Atmosphere Is Cooling, Prompting New Climate Concerns BY FRED PEARCE | 7-MINUTE READ Scientists are worried about the effect this change could have on orbiting satellites, the ozone layer, and Earth's weather. GET WIRED Get WIRED for just $29.99 $5. That includes subscriber-only content like Steven Levy's Plaintext column, plus free stickers! Subscribe now. ADVERTISEMENT Have questions or comments? Reply to this email.   This email was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our email address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions