Thoughts on Social Media 4/?: What I Want, What I Really Really Want

Oh right, sorry, I was in the middle of a blog series, wasn’t I? It’s just that Tweetdeck came back and I get a bit distracted. Posting is busted, tho. So I’ll maybe come back here for a minute…

All this nonsense has got me re-evaluating what I actually want out of social media. Like why am I spending all this time on these websites.

First is probably a low-friction, low-commitment way to stay in touch with friends. Not many friends on Twitter, mind you. And even fewer the last few months. But it’s still something I value. Even if I don’t often reach out, I still like catching little glimpses of what people are up to. That’s nice. It’s why I’m still on Facebook, gods help me. And if Twitter really does finally go away, I’ll probably lose touch with some people.

Twitter’s also a fantastic way to keep up with—and play a role in—the local community. For whatever reason, every elected official and member of the press decided they had to be on there. Ever institution has a presence there. It’s actually kind of remarkable. I can’t help but think that’s why certain billionaires decided it had to go.

So I want that, but it’s mostly not up to me. I don’t know if we’ll get that back. The only place I think we have a chance of getting anything like that back is the Fediverse. But that “every elected official/institition decided they had to be there” bit hasn’t happened yet, if it ever does. The EU is there. So’s the German government. And just today, The Netherlands.

Note that all three of those are running their own instances. Which makes for way better “verification” than any checkmark silliness.

Institutions move slowly. And frankly, it’s a bit of a miracle they all ended up on Twitter in the first place. I think there’s a definite opportunity for some company to white label some sort of fediverse presence for them and maybe make some money off it.

I have thoughts about features I look for in social media websites, but I think I’ll leave those for part 5.

Featured image is DSC00002 by cw. CC-BY

Thoughts on Social Media 3/?: Did You Know RSS Was Still a Thing?

It’s true. I mean, you somehow found this blog post, which means you might already know this. But if you didn’t, I think it’s important to remind people.

It used to be easier, but it’s still around. RIP, Google Reader. I use and like Newsblur, but your choice of reader is kind of personal. Also, I think I got grandfathered into an account where I paid once and can use it for free. I don’t think that exists anymore. You may need to pay money to get a good reader.

People seem to be gravitating more towards mailing lists. I really dislike mailing lists. One thing I didn’t realize was that Substack and other mailing list blogging platforms offer RSS feeds. I didn’t know! You don’t get subscriber-only (subscribing as in money), but I’m not paying for mailing lists, so that’s okay.

I’ve been leaning a bit more heavily on my RSS reader since I’ve been drifting away from Twitter. And with the enshittification of search engines along with centralized social media, putting in a little work to curate my own river of news seems only prudent. I’ll keep on cleaning up my old feed list and finding new feeds.

And hey, maybe you’ll consider adding me to your reader so you won’t ever miss a post! I’ve posted more this week than I did all last year! Things are looking up!

featured image is ojingogo by webfee. CC-BY-NC.

Some thoughts on social media 1/?: Tweetdeck

It finally happened. Elon finally noticed Tweetdeck still exists. I’d kinda stuck around Twitter saying that if Tweetdeck goes, I go. And Tweetdeck is going. So I’m off.

Tweetdeck was always great, because every stupid thing that Twitter users complained about happening to their UI didn’t happen there. I had a reverse chronological feed of tweets from people I followed. And that’s it. No ads, no Nazis (mostly), nothing else. And I could add a bunch of lists for special interests that made me happy, like Doctor Who or Lego or Star Wars or whatever, that I wouldn’t have followed directly. It was great.

New Tweetdeck does most of these things, but no way am I paying Elon to ride Twitter into the depths of Hell. So I’m out.

I’ve got some more thoughts on things now that I’ve been mucking around with Mastodon a bit more, I have some more thoughts on Fediverse things, but maybe I’ll spin those off to separate posts. A blog series! I haven’t done one of those in ages!

Christmas Mixtape 2022

It’s the hap, happiest season of all! We’re back for a another Christmas mixtape. This will be my sixth. You can listen to all the mixtapes over at my Mixcloud.

You can also find it up on YouTube Music, although you’ll be missing a couple tracks.

Give it a listen! I do this because it’s fun for me and the last couple years, Ellen and I have kind of worked on our own mixtapes together. I like finding stuff that speaks to me and isn’t the sort of thing you’re likely to find playing in the mall. Track list with liner notes and music videos where available under the cut.

Continue reading Christmas Mixtape 2022