"When the algorithm holds on tight to a post that it knows will generate engagement and impressions, I call it being put in the blender. And when you’re stuck in the churn, it only stops spinning after the machine has squeezed out every bit of value." this is so real. not to the level that you had, but I had a negative experience recently after a post went semi-viral. the app is very toxic now.
I dropped twitter the moment I heard Musk was going to buy it. I’m on Threads and Bluesky. I only follow those who’ll bring me joy and or tell me about something new to me
I think that’s a good standard to go by. Unfortunately, as an artist, I have to use platforms where I don’t agree with the ownership all the time: Spotify, Bandcamp, Substack, etc.
At this point, I’ve decided that Twitter is now a bridge too far for myself when it comes to that side of things.
Did this a couple of years ago and the bird shaped hole is slowly but surely growing flowers. Good decision. This piece made me laugh a lot as well. Thanks
“It was like staying at the afters too long, talking in circles about war crimes on a couch flanked by local drug dealers, degenerate gamblers, weird guys with questionable politics and inveterate scammers, all because I was too lazy to call a cab home.” 🔥
We get two things wrong with social media: we lost the curatorial type of editors that used to manage print media and we see it as a hangout when it's really an old-school marketplace/bazaar.
The massive infrastructure required to print and distribute print media in addition to the environmental impact of pulp paper production was never going to be a permanent solution but it required curation. When we talk about the loss of print media we talk about the print itself but I don't think it's ever coming back the way it was and it's the editors I miss. I miss the people with taste willing to sort through the dross I don't want anything to do with. I don't want a world where that dross goes away because it's given unprecedented access to audiences and that's a good thing, but I think we underestimate the value of people willing to sort through all of it and curate a collection for those of us who don't have the time or wherewithal.
But more importantly: social media isn't social, it's a marketplace. In the early days it was more like a funky local marketplace but as it's gotten bigger it's attracted all the snake oil salesmen out to make a profit in an unregulated free-for-all. Calling it social media is like calling the food terminal in Toronto a local pub. It's not, it's a place where professionals are hucking their wares and at this point it probably requires some special knowledge just to navigate. I agree entirely that Twitter is an unusable cesspool. Musk bought it, opened the floodgates to hatred, and now has a platform full of hatred. But there's dozens of others attacking the same problem from different angles to differing levels of success when the real problem is that they're treating it like a hangout rather than a marketplace. And a lot of marketplaces are hangouts, they're great places to hang out, but not all the time. They're overwhelming to be there all the time. If this was a pre-internet age you'd go to the marketplace Saturday morning or something then go to the pub or whatever in the evening. And the key is the pub: they were at the marketplace that morning too, picking up fresh food that they've now curated into a meal for you. You get to experience the marketplace through the curator, in this case the chef.
The marketplace isn't the goal in itself and is only for professionals and enthusiasts. There's a lot of value-added for those willing to take the noise of the marketplace and distil it into something manageable for people doing other things with their lives. But we haven't figured that out yet, we're all just crowding into the marketplace trying to sell ourselves whether we've got something to sell or not just because that's what everyone else is doing and we think this is a social endeavour. If this were the pre-internet days I'd be out hucking my product (stories) at trade shows and maybe local marketplaces or story magazines. Instead I'm here, and I kind of prefer that, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't have something to sell any more than I'd be at a trade show thirty years ago if I didn't want to be.
Perhaps I’m just nostalgic for Web 1.0. Message boards and peer to peer messaging were more primitive and hadn’t yet been optimized for selling products. There once was a time when it was actually quite difficult to buy something online.
I’m certainly on these platforms primarily to promote my work, but I have fond memories of making actual connections with people online and taking them into the real world. That actually happened and there were no transactions involved a lot of the time.
The lack of curation will be the downfall of some of these apps. No one wants to hang out at the mall forever.
"No one wants to hang out at the mall forever," love it. This is why we have poets.
I'd forgotten about how hard it used to be to buy stuff online. I bought a weird little motorcycle in the early 2000's and was part of a yahoo group for said bikes that I think I've heard held up as one of the greatest internet message boards of all time. Just encyclopedic, surprisingly huge, and really friendly. It was a lot of fun. I'm also reminded of Sheldon Brown's famous bicycle encyclopedia. The replacements aren't better and it's getting harder to find useful information about that sort of thing. It'd be cool to see a return to that, maybe using open source software or something that is harder to monetize. Mastodon is still pretty cool, but small and niche.
It’s the same impulse that has me looking for an old iPod to get refurbished with a new battery and bigger hard drive. The coming years will be all about regaining control of our media. That’s what my upcoming book is all about!
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Specialist knowledge, people who are really, really into stuff. It’s not just spraying random bait and hoping to get engagement.
I grew up on underground rap forums and independent music boards and I learned so much during those years.
I wonder what the next thing is and how to encourage it. I'm really loving that vinyl is back and giving a chance to engage without being plugged in. I almost wonder if the old Yorkville style coffee houses aren't going to make a comeback, or maybe they already are. Curated spaces with music, magazines, events. I guess that's always been a thing but maybe grassroots is about to make a comeback as the internet's toxicity rises.
Agree on so many fronts. A great decision Rollie. Twitter is a time waster & brain zapper and filled with so much hate and untruths. Sorry to hear you were a victim of these vitriols. Though I rarely go on X anymore—maybe once a week or once a month sometimes—I, too, have justified not deleting my profile because of the ‘audience’ I had built, which is a joke because I only have 3K followers. Social media in general is becoming more and more toxic and filled with bots and brain rot. I prefer to get lost in good book. Write on. ✍️
One thing I considered with leaving is how I always feel spiritually nourished after reading a good book or watching a fascinating documentary, but I feel emotionally depleted when I spend too much time on social media.
Twitter was particularly draining and generally made me feel bad, as if it was taking a little bit of myself away from me the more I used it. Thanks for reading!
"When the algorithm holds on tight to a post that it knows will generate engagement and impressions, I call it being put in the blender. And when you’re stuck in the churn, it only stops spinning after the machine has squeezed out every bit of value." this is so real. not to the level that you had, but I had a negative experience recently after a post went semi-viral. the app is very toxic now.
I dropped twitter the moment I heard Musk was going to buy it. I’m on Threads and Bluesky. I only follow those who’ll bring me joy and or tell me about something new to me
I think that’s a good standard to go by. Unfortunately, as an artist, I have to use platforms where I don’t agree with the ownership all the time: Spotify, Bandcamp, Substack, etc.
At this point, I’ve decided that Twitter is now a bridge too far for myself when it comes to that side of things.
Did this a couple of years ago and the bird shaped hole is slowly but surely growing flowers. Good decision. This piece made me laugh a lot as well. Thanks
Haha thanks homie! Check back in with me in a few years and let's see how I'm doing.
Fantastic piece - really resonates
Thanks for reading!
“It was like staying at the afters too long, talking in circles about war crimes on a couch flanked by local drug dealers, degenerate gamblers, weird guys with questionable politics and inveterate scammers, all because I was too lazy to call a cab home.” 🔥
Thanks for reading!
We get two things wrong with social media: we lost the curatorial type of editors that used to manage print media and we see it as a hangout when it's really an old-school marketplace/bazaar.
The massive infrastructure required to print and distribute print media in addition to the environmental impact of pulp paper production was never going to be a permanent solution but it required curation. When we talk about the loss of print media we talk about the print itself but I don't think it's ever coming back the way it was and it's the editors I miss. I miss the people with taste willing to sort through the dross I don't want anything to do with. I don't want a world where that dross goes away because it's given unprecedented access to audiences and that's a good thing, but I think we underestimate the value of people willing to sort through all of it and curate a collection for those of us who don't have the time or wherewithal.
But more importantly: social media isn't social, it's a marketplace. In the early days it was more like a funky local marketplace but as it's gotten bigger it's attracted all the snake oil salesmen out to make a profit in an unregulated free-for-all. Calling it social media is like calling the food terminal in Toronto a local pub. It's not, it's a place where professionals are hucking their wares and at this point it probably requires some special knowledge just to navigate. I agree entirely that Twitter is an unusable cesspool. Musk bought it, opened the floodgates to hatred, and now has a platform full of hatred. But there's dozens of others attacking the same problem from different angles to differing levels of success when the real problem is that they're treating it like a hangout rather than a marketplace. And a lot of marketplaces are hangouts, they're great places to hang out, but not all the time. They're overwhelming to be there all the time. If this was a pre-internet age you'd go to the marketplace Saturday morning or something then go to the pub or whatever in the evening. And the key is the pub: they were at the marketplace that morning too, picking up fresh food that they've now curated into a meal for you. You get to experience the marketplace through the curator, in this case the chef.
The marketplace isn't the goal in itself and is only for professionals and enthusiasts. There's a lot of value-added for those willing to take the noise of the marketplace and distil it into something manageable for people doing other things with their lives. But we haven't figured that out yet, we're all just crowding into the marketplace trying to sell ourselves whether we've got something to sell or not just because that's what everyone else is doing and we think this is a social endeavour. If this were the pre-internet days I'd be out hucking my product (stories) at trade shows and maybe local marketplaces or story magazines. Instead I'm here, and I kind of prefer that, but I wouldn't be here if I didn't have something to sell any more than I'd be at a trade show thirty years ago if I didn't want to be.
Perhaps I’m just nostalgic for Web 1.0. Message boards and peer to peer messaging were more primitive and hadn’t yet been optimized for selling products. There once was a time when it was actually quite difficult to buy something online.
I’m certainly on these platforms primarily to promote my work, but I have fond memories of making actual connections with people online and taking them into the real world. That actually happened and there were no transactions involved a lot of the time.
The lack of curation will be the downfall of some of these apps. No one wants to hang out at the mall forever.
"No one wants to hang out at the mall forever," love it. This is why we have poets.
I'd forgotten about how hard it used to be to buy stuff online. I bought a weird little motorcycle in the early 2000's and was part of a yahoo group for said bikes that I think I've heard held up as one of the greatest internet message boards of all time. Just encyclopedic, surprisingly huge, and really friendly. It was a lot of fun. I'm also reminded of Sheldon Brown's famous bicycle encyclopedia. The replacements aren't better and it's getting harder to find useful information about that sort of thing. It'd be cool to see a return to that, maybe using open source software or something that is harder to monetize. Mastodon is still pretty cool, but small and niche.
It’s the same impulse that has me looking for an old iPod to get refurbished with a new battery and bigger hard drive. The coming years will be all about regaining control of our media. That’s what my upcoming book is all about!
I'll have to buy that book! Have you seen retropreservation on instagram? I feel like you two might already run in the same circles.
I haven’t, I’ll check them out!
That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Specialist knowledge, people who are really, really into stuff. It’s not just spraying random bait and hoping to get engagement.
I grew up on underground rap forums and independent music boards and I learned so much during those years.
Truth. Relationships can't be transactional.
I wonder what the next thing is and how to encourage it. I'm really loving that vinyl is back and giving a chance to engage without being plugged in. I almost wonder if the old Yorkville style coffee houses aren't going to make a comeback, or maybe they already are. Curated spaces with music, magazines, events. I guess that's always been a thing but maybe grassroots is about to make a comeback as the internet's toxicity rises.
Drop that phone and turn this UP: https://nobro.bandcamp.com/track/delete-delete-delete
Hahaha I mean, you're talking to the guy who wrote "Press Eject" over here! No disagreement from me here, just easier said than done...
Agree on so many fronts. A great decision Rollie. Twitter is a time waster & brain zapper and filled with so much hate and untruths. Sorry to hear you were a victim of these vitriols. Though I rarely go on X anymore—maybe once a week or once a month sometimes—I, too, have justified not deleting my profile because of the ‘audience’ I had built, which is a joke because I only have 3K followers. Social media in general is becoming more and more toxic and filled with bots and brain rot. I prefer to get lost in good book. Write on. ✍️
One thing I considered with leaving is how I always feel spiritually nourished after reading a good book or watching a fascinating documentary, but I feel emotionally depleted when I spend too much time on social media.
Twitter was particularly draining and generally made me feel bad, as if it was taking a little bit of myself away from me the more I used it. Thanks for reading!