Reflections on the state and impact of social media.
Social Networks
It actually happened. Meta’s social networking app Threads joined the Fediverse! And I have a few thoughts. 1. This is a big deal. For the first time in history, you can not have an account on a Meta-owned app but still be able to follow and soon interact with
Social Networks
Mastodon and most Fediverse platforms may be better than traditional social networks at interoperability but they don’t do much about other issues. In fact, they largely copy these issues straight from the social media giants. Most Fediverse platforms, including Mastodon, publicly display follower counts, like (favorite) counts, and share
Social Networks
Many of us are familiar with the feeling of investing time and effort on a particular social network, only to either see it become irrelevant over time or do something stupid or malicious that scatters people over to half a dozen platforms. And so you start over, with all your
The Web
In today’s Web, being online seldom means being present. Browsing doesn’t mean reading. Following hardly means connecting. Posting certainly doesn’t mean articulating. Commenting rarely means conversing. Listening doesn’t mean comprehending. Watching never meant absorbing. And likes don’t mean anything anyway. We largely live an internet
Fediverse
The ongoing drama concerning Ryan Barrett’s upcoming tool that will bridge parts of the social networks Mastodon and Bluesky led me to a rabbit hole. A reading dive into the norms and expectations that factions of people and communities have within the decentralized social Web, which currently mostly exists
The Web
The “modern” Web, especially when served via our phones and social media, makes it too easy to live without intent. Hour after hour. Days at a time. Cumulatively months even. Maybe for years. While most of us have a job, family, and friends, how much of our daily time and
Social Networks
I wish the press took fact checking a bit more seriously. When major events of any kind take place, media publications at large jump the gun to break out any info that seems remotely publishable. They spurt out instant takes and hammered quotes to grab more views, and thus ultimately
Social Networks
Misinformation on social media is a grave issue. What we’re really grappling with are sides effects of three things: * making web publishing hyper instant * bringing virtually every person in one massive digital square * leaving amplification to the algorithm instead of just people, meaning people’s emotions will be tapped
Blogging
It’s fairly popular to write blog posts on Medium or WordPress.com. As I argue in my post on How to feel at home on the Internet, that’s a good thing compared to posting on Twitter, Instagram, Youtube or siloes alike. Unlike most social media platforms, blogs are
Social Networks
It’s odd that we can watch over 10-30 minutes of videos with ease and silence but don’t have the patience to listen to someone for but two minutes in physical life. On the other hand, when we put thoughts out on the Internet ourselves, we let the faceless
Social Networks
I recently requested my Patreon supporters to move their patronage to my Donorbox so I can avoid Patreon’s high platform fees. Lately I came to realize that the actual cut Patreon takes from us creators is far higher than the cleverly advertised ~8-10%, which isn’t low to begin
Social Networks
I was a panelist at an event in my city yesterday on space writing & journalism. It was nice, with lots of enthusiastic folks in the audience who had some good questions. However, literally everyone who engaged with me was trying to search my profile on Instagram. When they found
Social Networks
Last year I deleted my Facebook and Instagram accounts out of sheer disgust for their parent company and how their attention-economy-based business exploits people’s instincts and behavior at a fundamental level. The remaining popular social platforms of Twitter and LinkedIn, while not quite as evil, have similar business models
Social Networks
I’ve seen this recurring theme on Twitter where teasing something exciting you’re working on gets better visibility than sharing the thing itself. One such example is my latest article. This has been the case not just with Twitter but with Instagram, LinkedIn and all other attention-economy based social
Social Networks
I want to use the case of Instagram to highlight a larger point about how we can be mindful of which links we share on the Internet. Whether you’re a writer, a creator or simply sharing things on socials, a “bad link” can affect your readers as well as
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