Reflections on the state and impact of social media.
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
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
Apps
I recently switched my WhatsApp account from the regular personal one to a WhatsApp for Business account for primarily two reasons. 1. The link to my space blog on my WhatsApp profile is now clickable by others unlike the text-only bios on regular WhatsApp. 2. I thought having a prominently
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 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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