Ian Bogost is the director of the film- and media-studies program at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is also a computer-science and engineering professor. He has some interesting things to say about social media. He distinguishes between social networking and social media. He provides an interesting historical overview of failed and successful social media websites.
I read that when it came out, and couldn't agree more.
I'd forgotten about some of those platforms. The "how the hell does that work" moment for me was RSS. I just couldn't wrap my head around stuff arriving, based on my interests, without having to do anything.
Ian Bogost is the director of the film- and media-studies program at Washington University in St. Louis, where he is also a computer-science and engineering professor. He has some interesting things to say about social media. He distinguishes between social networking and social media. He provides an interesting historical overview of failed and successful social media websites.
i agree
humans are going to slip, and let us down
i ask myself "what does the path to forgiveness look like?"
some thrive on conflict, some on legit engagement
i still make the effort to engage, understand and then be understood
probably sounds silly, but i've noticed i have better outcomes when i have conversations
some may take longer than others my hope is that this sounds like something HITLER wouldn't say
Not that vegetarians seem to be hyped here, at all... (Hitler was one). The soft part of your message keeps ringing in.. so there may be a shed of hope for mankind, I guess.
There's people taking responsibility of and for themselves, and then there are (strictly) blamers: Ever complaining about others, seeking fault with none other than themselves, most often willfully ignorant of their own, repetetive wrong-doings...
I did both. Joined CounterSocial and Mastodon and Gab (really) and a few others just to stake out my four-letter name, and temporarily deactivated (now reactivated so no one could mess with my brand) my Twitter account.
But it all seems so weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable. The same people say the same things, have the same viewpoint. And the counter views are fueled by misinformation and irrational hatred. Sometimes RP gets that way, too, which is something HITLER would say. And then it feels sad: I've been here, like some of you, for a couple of decades. It's no fun to see everyone (including me) start bickering and name calling over something as ephemeral and temporary as elections. Those, too, shall pass.
i agree
humans are going to slip, and let us down
i ask myself "what does the path to forgiveness look like?"
some thrive on conflict, some on legit engagement
i still make the effort to engage, understand and then be understood
probably sounds silly, but i've noticed i have better outcomes when i have conversations
some may take longer than others my hope is that this sounds like something HITLER wouldn't say
Steely_D: You managed to include a reference to Hitler! And it was kinda original and actually funny. Well done!
Curious: Are not the chat fora on RP technically speaking 'social media'?
Facebook. Not particularly fond of it but find it useful when something is happening locally, like a murder, wildfire, flooding of Biblical proportions.
Twitter. I have actually learned a few things on Twitter. But I can see it turning rather quickly into the 'same old, same old'. As you point out, there are lots of people whistling past each other. Useful back and forth is the exception.
I am happy to see this proliferation of substitutes for Twitter. Think I will wait for a few glowing reviews of the new sites.
Man, I really wanted credit for the Hamlet quote.
I think of RP as social, surely, but not as widespread as the usual things like FB. I was also very active with some (still) friends on Last.fm but thatâs in the past, and it was also a niche location on the net.
I still have my FB account, since there are people there (from Last.fm) and relatives that I otherwise would hear from a lot less frequently. But it doesnât get my personal life as posts.
I did both. Joined CounterSocial and Mastodon and Gab (really) and a few others just to stake out my four-letter name, and temporarily deactivated (now reactivated so no one could mess with my brand) my Twitter account.
But it all seems so weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable. The same people say the same things, have the same viewpoint. And the counter views are fueled by misinformation and irrational hatred. Sometimes RP gets that way, too, which is something HITLER would say. And then it feels sad: I've been here, like some of you, for a couple of decades. It's no fun to see everyone (including me) start bickering and name calling over something as ephemeral and temporary as elections. Those, too, shall pass.
Steely_D: You managed to include a reference to Hitler! And it was kinda original and actually funny. Well done!
Curious: Are not the chat fora on RP technically speaking 'social media'?
Facebook. Not particularly fond of it but find it useful when something is happening locally, like a murder, wildfire, flooding of Biblical proportions.
Twitter. I have actually learned a few things on Twitter. But I can see it turning rather quickly into the 'same old, same old'. As you point out, there are lots of people whistling past each other. Useful back and forth is the exception.
I am happy to see this proliferation of substitutes for Twitter. Think I will wait for a few glowing reviews of the new sites.
So assuming you're tired of the Twitter noise now, would you join a new platform, or just retreat a bit from social media?
I did both. Joined CounterSocial and Mastodon and Gab (really) and a few others just to stake out my four-letter name, and temporarily deactivated (now reactivated so no one could mess with my brand) my Twitter account.
But it all seems so weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable. The same people say the same things, have the same viewpoint. And the counter views are fueled by misinformation and irrational hatred. Sometimes RP gets that way, too, which is something HITLER would say. And then it feels sad: I've been here, like some of you, for a couple of decades. It's no fun to see everyone (including me) start bickering and name calling over something as ephemeral and temporary as elections. Those, too, shall pass.
So assuming you're tired of the Twitter noise now, would you join a new platform, or just retreat a bit from social media?
As you might expect, there are existing options. As you also might expect, there is the anti-Twitter startup that comes up quickly and is launching now to gain momentum while Elon's house is on fire. The new site is calledPost.news
As part of its one page self-introduction, it states:
Post will be a civil place to debate ideas; learn from experts, journalists, individual creators, and each other; converse freely; and have some fun. Many of today's ad-based platforms rely on capturing attention at any cost â sowing chaos in our society, amplifying the extremes, and muting the moderates. Post is designed to give the voice back to the sidelined majority; there are enough platforms for extremists, and we cannot relinquish the town square to them.
I've never been too active on social media: No FB posts since 2012 (a total of 2 I think in my career), No TikTok account. I have Instagram only to follow beer releases (started 6-8 years ago during the go-go days of NEIPA's), and a total of maybe a dozen Twitter posts over a decade... but signed up to the waitlist to see what it's all about when given access. My longest social media relationship is with LinkedIn. I was actually the 71,490th person to sign up for LinkedIn a few decades ago (to help a friend drive users). I'm not a fan, but today's business world requires some care and feeding on the platform.
So.... If Post is what it suggests it might be, maybe it's a cross between Medium / Wordpress...the non-BS component of LinkedIn... and Twitter... might you give it a whirl? That's a lot to ask of a new platform, but I signed up to get a reasonable username and test the waters.
Emotional development for Musk - like Trump; ceased in adolescence. They still deal with the world from the self-centered perspective of a child.
Well, they are certainly very successful 'children' and both have managed to build massive public followings. How would you characterize the people following these two celebrity narcissists?
I ask because if the American people did not enable these two, they would have no power.
I reckon, he is trying to bail and this is a way of doing it so that he can throw someone else under the bus if/when twitter fails. Still I voted yes because that is the better thing if you think there is anything of value left in the platform.
