How many naturists are still using Twitter (now "X") regularly?

This isn't just about Twitter. Naturists need friendly services that encourage communication and cooperation with each other.

The issue is important, because Twitter (“X”) is one of the few popular online social networks that are tolerant of naturist nudity and (so far) is available to anyone at no cost. As a result, first, it’s one of the best places for people to be introduced to naturism - if they happen to find naturist content there. And, second, it’s one of the best places for naturists to encounter other naturists with whom they may develop friendships and enlarge their personal naturist network.

Twitter was launched way back in 2006, and by 2012 had more than 100 million users. For at least the past 10 years or so, Twitter has been one of the few prominent online social networks popular with naturists because of its sensibly lenient policies regarding nudity. Others with similar reasonable policies have included Reddit, Discord, Tumblr (once again, despite about five years of intolerance towards nudity), and MeWe (relatively little used). On the other hand, social networks heavily used by the general public, such as Facebook and its sibling, Instagram, are notoriously hostile to nonsexual, naturist nudity. I wouldn’t be surprised if they became even worse.

So Twitter has been a haven social medium for naturists, and its policies regarding nudity have changed little, if at all. My Naturistplace account has been on Twitter since January 2019. But apparently it’s been one of the most followed naturist accounts on Twitter, and still has more than 23 thousand “followers”, down a couple of thousand from the peak, even though I haven’t posted there too regularly this past year. (I’ve been pretty busy with other things, including Substack.)

The total number of naturists using Twitter is probably in the low hundreds of thousands - worldwide - and very few post regularly. Many more users read naturist posts somewhat often, to follow specific naturists or check naturist-related news. They may also comment on posts. Twitter naturists typically use pseudonyms instead of their real names, especially if they post or comment on others’ naturist posts. So you might not realize that someone you’re acquainted with is actually a naturist. And naturists who do use their real name might be using Twitter mostly or entirely for non-naturist interests.

Facebook and Instagram together have membership in the low billions, so most naturists likely use one or both of them instead of Twitter. However, due to (parent company) Meta’s policies on nudity or simply concerns about being identified as a naturist, there’s minimal naturist discussion on Meta’s sites, even in the small number of naturist groups there. Still, many naturist clubs (landed and nonlanded), naturist organizations, and naturist-related businesses are on Facebook or Instagram. Of course, they have to abide by Meta’s rules, but at least having a page is a good way to make themselves known to anyone who might be interested.

But this discussion is mainly about Twitter. Although many naturists have used the site to follow other naturists or post about naturism themselves, my impression is that naturist activity has been down substantially in the past several years. Twitter naturist users probably receive email notifications of posts they might be interested in. However, it seems like now there aren’t many (perhaps at most a few dozen) naturist accounts that regularly appear in those notifications, at least those I receive. That’s astonishing if tens of thousands of naturists actually use Twitter.

About half of these posts seem to be from the same naturist parks or resorts. Also, I see relatively few accounts I haven’t noticed before. So I have to wonder whether there really are so few active naturist accounts and so few I haven’t seen before. Possible reasons might include deterioration of the service, a sharp decline of naturist interest in it, or (worst of all) declining interest of naturists in discussing the lifestyle itself.

Twitter has been popular with naturists, since it allows full-frontal naturist nudity - nearly alone among popular social media sites. As with other social media sites, non-photographic artistic images generally aren’t a problem. However, Twitter doesn’t allow photographic nudity in a user’s avatar or banner image, and naturists have been suspended or worse for not complying. Yet Twitter has also allowed non-naturist stuff that’s pornish.

Twitter in general has changed for the worse in the past year. Fortunately, policies regarding nudity haven’t changed much - so far. I still check there more or less daily, and what has changed is that most of the naturist posts are from a small number of the same users - considerably fewer than 100. I hope readers respond to the poll above, to provide some idea about how naturist use of Twitter may have changed. Please leave a note in the comments if you want to give more details.

Perhaps Twitter won’t be around much longer, at least in the form we’ve known. There are hints that it may not be “free” for most people. If that happens, many naturists will probably leave. After all, many naturists who want to discuss the lifestyle now use other social media sites (mentioned above) with relatively lenient policies on nudity. Unfortunately, none of them have nearly as much naturist usage as Twitter has had.

“Social media” is just a recent term for a type of computer service that’s been around almost as long as capable computers. Forty years ago I managed a system for computer professionals. It was called “computer conferencing” back then. The word “conference” is related to the French “confrère”, meaning “colleague” in English. Since that time, various similar systems have come and gone.

Nearly as soon as personal computers became available in the 1980s, there were computer “bulletin board” systems (BBSs), to which people could connect by phone lines and leave public messages for others. Around the same time there was Usenet, which was a distributed system that people could access by phone (via PCs or “dumb” terminals) to leave public messages on diverse topics, including naturism. “Rec.nude” was the main naturist example on Usenet, and vestiges of it still exist.

CompuServe, founded in 1969, was the first commercial “time-sharing” computer system. Eventually, it was used mainly as a large BBS system. As far as naturism is concerned, it had a couple of active naturist groups in the 1990s. Since it was a for-profit system, it was better managed than Rec.nude, and therefore excluded overtly sexual stuff. Similar systems in that era included America Online (AOL), Prodigy, The Source, and The Well (It’s still around, and I briefly managed a PC-oriented group on it.)

In the Web’s younger days, there were FriendFeed (acquired by Facebook, then shut down), Friendster, and Myspace (which is sort of still around). Those weren’t nearly as widely used as Facebook and Twitter. But technology continues advancing, at an increasingly fast pace. So Facebook, Twitter, and many others, even if they survive at all, will eventually morph into something else.

So, how does the future look for naturist use of online social media? Whatever happens to Twitter, similar messaging systems are proliferating rapidly. Some of the best-known include Mastodon, Pleroma, CounterSocial, Post, Substack Notes, and Bluesky (still not widely accessible). There’s also Meta’s new “Threads”, but the problem there is Meta’s nasty attitude regarding nudity - which follows society’s prevalent but mistaken conflation of nudity with sexuality.

If usage of Twitter continues to decline, naturists will need to choose one or more of the similar messaging systems that don’t discriminate against naturists. So the community will be split among different places - perhaps many of them, more than already exist. Anyone who wants to stay in touch with certain favorite people or naturist organizations will probably need to use several different systems for connecting.

There’s a possible solution on the horizon. It’s called “federation” or the fediverse. That entails providing users with a global identifier, possibly several. (Just like you have a unique mobile phone number tied to the phone’s SIM card.) Federation enables following individuals X, Y, and Z who’re all on different services from any of yours and those of each other. You’ll also be able to bring with you any content and contacts if you change services. But it’s difficult to implement, so still unrealized.

Improving the situation is important to facilitate connection and cooperation among naturists - both in the real world and in cyberspace. That’s essential for naturist social nudity to thrive. Many naturists have some connection with at least a few others like themselves. These could be other naturists in their real-world social network or other naturists they’ve met at naturist beaches, parks, resorts, nonlanded clubs, or social events. But the more connections that occur the better. There’s strength in numbers and many more opportunities for enjoying activities like clothesfree hiking, camping, travel, parties, etc. the more naturists one is connected with.

Naturist organizations in some countries, especially British Naturism in the UK, have bulletin board systems with fairly active usage across many naturist topics. BN membership is required - but anyone in the world can join BN (for a yearly fee). Unfortunately, AANR (in the U.S.) tried running a naturist BBS several years ago, but usage was low and the BBS was removed. AANR now supports a social network called “Naturist Hub”. Non-members of AANR can request an invitation to join directly from the Naturist Hub site - but it isn’t necessarily approved. Even AANR members must fill out a form with AANR to get an invitation. TNSF probably doesn’t have sufficient resources to offer anything like BN does. Not coincidentally, naturism seems to be thriving in the UK.

There are also a few websites for naturists, similar to NaturistHub, that are unaffiliated with traditional naturist organizations. A Naturist World is a good example. Such sites are privately owned and operated and usually have membership fees or are free for limited access. The good ones have discussion forums and other naturist content. The quality varies widely in terms of activity and usefulness. Of course, these are walled gardens, so there’s interaction only among members. Also, some sites that hold themselves out as naturist don’t fully respect naturist values, so some caution is advisable.

Understandably, naturist organizations want only “genuine” naturists to participate. Both real-world landed and nonlanded naturist clubs are usually careful about who they admit and may require background checks, current membership in another club, or at least approval by a current member. Online naturist social networks unaffiliated with a naturist organization vary. On Twitter and similar systems, anyone can participate subject only to the system’s general rules. On many Facebook and MeWe naturist groups, participation generally requires administrator approval. While this is usually prudent, people on open systems like Twitter have the opportunity to learn more about naturism even if they’ve never seriously considered it. If they encounter just a small number of active naturists, they may never become interested.

So what’s the bottom line? Increasing interest and participation in naturism is urgently needed. Increasing numbers of naturists is the best path to increasing places and opportunities for enjoying naturism. The more demand for something exists, the more supply will follow. Social media that are easily used represent one of the best ways for that to happen. But Twitter may well not be a major part of the mix.