Twitter

I joined Twitter in July 2007 though my addiction didn’t really take hold until January 2008. As I’ve said before it has mainly been a force for good in my life despite what it has become – it has given me friends around the world, massively influenced my career, provided me perspectives I wouldn’t have found elsewhere and helped drag me out of some dark spells. 

These days though it is clearly a failed state social media wise. Overwhelmed with mis-information, Elon fanbois, a new generation of bots/spam and a dangerous level of toxicity. I’ve been trying to wean myself off it for months but the addiction is in deep and unfortunately none of the patches that have emerged have sated things for me yet. There are still more people using it I want to hear from than anywhere else – albeit begrudgingly. 

Mastodon

I have really tried with Mastodon this time and it definitely has been an improvement on the last time I gave it a go – I suspect the server I am on helps with that – but I can’t shake the feeling it all feels a bit…earnest? I second guess my posts a lot and miss the silliness and nonsense that emerges from Twitter – I’ve become a bit of a lurker rather than a poster. There are a lot of people I like over there but they also often seem a bit less multi-dimensional than they were elsewhere. 

Bluesky

Okay Bluesky is a bit strange. If Mastodon sometimes felt like the ‘Uncanny Valley’ version of Twitter then Bluesky is the ‘Dolly the sheep’. It is a total clone. I know it has a few differences under the hood and has some of its own version of ‘federated’ / ‘portable’ principles underpinning it but from a UI point of view it is very familiar.

It is still pretty empty though it seems to be the life raft most likely at the moment with my network and I am posting into the void a bit there to see if it sticks. Not sure I trust something with Jack’s fingerprints all over it but it is what it is.

Threads

I have absolutely no idea what is going on here. I have a historic Facebook account that I maintain for a very small group, I don’t really use WhatsApp but I do like Instagram – mainly for street art, comics people, a few celebs and a small group of ‘real’ folks. So I joined up to Threads straight away just out of curiosity. It is such a mess. A timeline filled with accounts I don’t follow – for a reason. Then the people I do follow seem confused by the point of the channel – some are trying to use it like Twitter, others Facebook and the majority like some weird text addendum to their Insta. All-in-all at the moment it is just discombobulating – it might evolve and some people clearly like it but it gives me a headache.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is still terrible. Full of hustle culture nonsense, mansplaining, humble brags and more fiction than a Waterstone’s…but…but..but somehow it is also now also the main source of traffic to this blog and the place where I engage in the most useful and constructive professional conversations. It all feels a bit dirty but there is no doubting the shift. Of course it is still no place for the snark and nonsense I miss from Ye Olde Twitters but it definitely has a much bigger place in my network now.

So what is the point of this? Well I guess it is that I am – for now – going to have to spread my attention and contributions across all five to one extent or another – which is exhausting. 

Maybe I am just too old?

Anyway I miss Pownce.