Another social media app has opened up — you can now freely join BlueSky without waiting for an invitation. It was founded by the guy who initially created Twitter, which ought to give us all pause, but they promise to give us customizable control over the algorithm. We’ll see. I’m on most of these new social media apps, so I have opinions…amorphous, poorly formed opinions, because I’ve been distracted by too many apps.
So far, I like Mastodon best. It’s a bit of a tangled mess with the swarms of servers out there, but once you get settled in, it’s nice, especially since you don’t feel like you’re enabling some hidden corporate beast somewhere. I get reasonable engagement, the interface works, there’s a substantial volume of traffic since I’m promiscuous about who I’ll follow.
BlueSky is nice and slick and feels most like the old Twitter. Membership has been throttled for a year, and now that it has opened up, it may turn into the worst of old Twitter as the Nazis rush in. One nice feature is that early adopters included lots of scientists, who have built a lot of beachheads to science content.
You might already be on Threads if you have an Instagram account — they seem to be fusing into an unholy amalgam of text and photos. It is a stepchild of the wicked Zuck, so that’s a strike against it, but on the plus side, I am seeing more writing here — people telling stories over multiple posts, and actually taking care to build a narrative. It’s growing on me for that reason.
Of course, Twitter still exists, but I will look down on you if you continue to use it. Leave now. There are good alternatives available. We’re looking at a ‘Fall of the House of Musk’ scenario over there, and soon enough it’s going to be nothing but a crevasse populated with gibbering lost souls. (Well, it’s always been something like that, but you know what I mean, it’ll get worse.)
My recommendation for the people I used to follow: jump ship to BlueSky. It’ll be most familiar, and you’ll find ready-made groups with similar interests already building communities. Just be prepared to leap away if it becomes another xitter. You can’t make strong attachments in a time of chaos.
You probably want to avoid Spoutible, though:
https://bsky.app/profile/rahaeli.bsky.social/post/3kkohf7c6q22i
https://www.troyhunt.com/how-spoutibles-leaky-api-spurted-out-a-deluge-of-personal-data/
I like Bluesky; it’s got a lot of writers on it. Of course, now that it’s opened up, the nazis might flood in, but the Bluesky ethos is “block block block.” As far as Spoutible goes, the founder responded to that breach and fixed it within hours, and also sent out a prompt email letting everyone know what had happened (which Troy Hunt’s post documents). So I’m inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt, at least for now.
Twitter was a good idea done well.
I occasionally accessed it because it was useful.
Very large user base and most news organizations at least had their headlines on Twitter.
Musk wrecked it and I haven’t had any reason to go back for months.
On the old Twitter, you didn’t have to have an account to just read it.
For a lot of for profit social media. Having an account = giving someone all your personal data.
Threads is from Facebook and that is a bad sign right there.
With anything to do with Meta/Facebook, you are the product. Meta/Facebook is very predatory towards its
productusers.It might serve a purpose for small, well defined interest groups but won’t have the worldwide general interest reach of the old Twitter.
I’ll look at Bluesky.
Musk has so thoroughly alienated large segments of our population that a Twitter clone could quickly overrun them. Leaving X to be what it is becoming, Nazi central USA.
I’m surprised it took this long
Tesla isn’t doing so well lately.
I haven’t heard all that much good about their cars, especially compared to all the other EV cars out now.
I’ve heard there are problems with basic design and fit and finish as well.
Tesla stock is down over half its high, much of the drop in the last year.
A lot of these problems can be traced to…Elon Musk.
I’ve seen enough that I will never give a nickle to anything even remotely associated with Elon Musk.
“The cost of Elon’s behavior is really hurting shareholders and it’s really unfortunate because the reason we’re holding the stock is the long-term potential of Tesla is immense,” Gerber told Yahoo Finance. “So, you know, it’s this catch-22.”
Or else everybody could just shut up for once.
Meh. Twitter/X is too high-brow and elitist. I prefer logging in to Stormfront.
(What? They got canceled just because of a few swastikas? )
I got totally BANNED from twitster, back in 1998, by an overly judgmental opinionated internet entity called “Snarki”.
While I was angry at first, now I’m grateful.
I really like Mastodon because it is an experiment in something really decentralized, and it will allow people to develop the “social technology” needed to manage this kind of networks.
Also, I decided that I’m avoiding like the pest anything with the potential to lock me in to the whims of some fascist-friendly techbro.
It is becoming a moral imperative to oppose any concentration of power, there is no fucking way I’m giving control to a single corporation to so much of my life.
I’m trying to de-googlefy and I froze any Steam puchase.
Fuck this shit, enough is enough.
Unfortunately. Bluesky needs a cell phone that can display SMS messages to get an account. Those of us with landlines are out of luck.
I’m on Mastodon and BlueSky; I prefer Mastodon by miles. It’s pretty chill there.
Had a Twitter account–no, I won’t call it ‘X’–but got suspended and now I’m just taking up resources on Muskrat’s servers. I consider this a win.
@cheerfulcharlie:
Judging by the speed at which the telcos are trying to ditch support for landlines, not being able to register for Bluesky will be the least of your problems!
Joined and following you PZ. We shall see.Have dropped out of almost all social media (except a Wordpres bog – I’m just an old-fashioned guy). Perhaps BlueSky is the one for me in 2024.
I still enjoy Reddit because its easy to find and limit yourself to specific subs of interest and/or use and that are well enough moderated to keep the troublemakers out.
I was banned from r/conspiracy a few months ago, likely for being a little too scathing, but that was probably to my benefit. The stupidity on display there is enough to give anyone reading it brain rot.
This looks like what they call a ‘false dichotomy.’ I want to be the pitchfork salesman.
No. Neither.
@12 Hmmmm, WordPress Bog or WordPress Blog. Or both…
Neither. I want to be demonic management,† telling the demons with the pitchforks how to do the pitchforking, establishing performance objectives, and sending subpar performers to something even worse than hell. Point being, I’ll be the one running the staff meetings bwahahahahahahahaha…
…although the concept of what “staff meetings in hell” would look like is rather terrifying in itself; and I don’t even want to think about a guest presentation from a truly demonic HR (as if anyone could tell the difference from terrestrial HR).
† For which I’m professionally overqualified and have considerable relevant experience: The better part of a decade as the Old Man.
Jaws @ 17, staff meetings in hell? That’s easy, they look just like command and staff, save that death by powerpoint has no death option.
Just to spread the word, Charlie also noted the occasion:
Only social media I’m really on is facebook whch still works well for me and does have its good side – & pages and groups and people – as well as the bad. No fan of Zuckerberg but for me as a form of social media it’s still my choice and I do enjoy spending a lot of time on it. Probly too much time but still.