If you're a journalist, author, artist, or anyone else who uses social media for business purposes, it doesn't hurt to start collecting people's email addresses.
Goddammit I appreciate you. You're so fucking smart, P, and you use your knowledge to help others. Is this gross to put on main? Yes, whatever, I'm being sincere about a friend, it's fine, I'm FINE.
Cory Doctorow has a book coming out soon (The Internet Con) that I got an ARC of -- it follows up further on the switching costs argument and is extremely persuasive!
When I first heard Musk was buying Twitter, I made a point of signing up for as many mailing lists from smart people as I could, knowing that if I deleted Twitter (which I did back in October), it would be a way to keep the network once the dust settles. Glad I did!
Thanks for the inspiration! I have a small following on Twitter, but regardless of that I figure it is smart to start figuring out where to direct people for my work, as humble as it may be. Might also be a good kick in the pants to start writing a bit more, too.
OT, I know, but this bit from a famous 4th of July speech speaks to the question of whether you're obligated to engage in "reasonable debate" with people who will deny your humanity. The Concern Trolls have always been with us.
But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, "It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, an denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed."
-- Frederick Douglass, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"
I do not give strangers permission to collect my email address. I also don't understand how you folks got so dependent on any social media platform that you cry, gnash your teeth and tear out your hair when it changes on you. Get over it. It's pathetic. What do you think people did before Twitter? They lived without it. So can you. I'm so tired of the weeping and the Elon this, Elon that crap.
If you're a writer or musician or any kind of artist that depends on having an audience, then you're probably going to use social media to reach a bigger audience. Because it's how you pay the rent. Me, I'm not on Twitter, but I don't have to be, my livelihood doesn't depend on being seen and heard. But even though I'm not on Twitter, I'm not going to take some kind of morally superior attitude towards those that are, especially when they need to be there to eat.
As someone who avoided Twitter as much as possible and feels that social media was a net negative for society, I think that the disappointment people are feeling about Twitter is totally understandable. It sucks to see something ruined just because a rich guy felt like it.
I like wandering around the grocery store. Even though people survived without grocery stores for centuries, if Musk buys all of them and makes people pay $8 to get in the checkout line and every aisle is filled with people shouting racist slurs and promoting crypto scams, I'm going to be bummed out.
People chose a privately owned social media platform, but why chose ANY social media platform as a marketing tool? Who the hell does that? It's stupid.
Working with community non-profit organizations, I've found that you use social media because that is where you find people who might be interested in your organization.
It's not the only online marketing tool and one doesn't rely on just Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
One organization that I work with uses MailChimp for a weekly email newsletter.
The MailChimp content is reposted to social media automatically (Facebook, Twitter) along with being emailed to subscribers.
The newsletter content is copy / pasted into a WordPress web site and that is automatically re-posted to social media.
This information goes out through several channels. We are not relying solely on social media but we don't ignore that it exists and some people use it.
"If you're a journalist, author, artist, or anyone else who uses social media for business purposes..." There are many people who ARE dependent on social media platforms for their livelihood. Just because you're not one of them doesn't mean you have to disparage them. If you don't like it, you can scroll on by.
Considering that I posted the comment a few days ago, and that it is my opinion (which I am fully entitled to express), your tut-tutting tells us more about you than about me.
The internet is vast. Making your own website isn't difficult. What did writers and artists do before social media became a vast cesspool of trash that nobody with half a brain still uses? Do you have any idea how much disinformation and brain-numbing dreck is already on social media?
Yes! I started my newsletter Poppies & Propofol because there are not enough nuanced newsletters from physicians, and social media is... unstable. I don't use it to drive business, but speaking directly to the niche audience interested in medicine and ethics is more rewarding than Twitter, where it's easier to attract the hoards of anti-vax and anti-abortion trolls.
Goddammit I appreciate you. You're so fucking smart, P, and you use your knowledge to help others. Is this gross to put on main? Yes, whatever, I'm being sincere about a friend, it's fine, I'm FINE.
Cory Doctorow has a book coming out soon (The Internet Con) that I got an ARC of -- it follows up further on the switching costs argument and is extremely persuasive!
When I first heard Musk was buying Twitter, I made a point of signing up for as many mailing lists from smart people as I could, knowing that if I deleted Twitter (which I did back in October), it would be a way to keep the network once the dust settles. Glad I did!
Thanks for the inspiration! I have a small following on Twitter, but regardless of that I figure it is smart to start figuring out where to direct people for my work, as humble as it may be. Might also be a good kick in the pants to start writing a bit more, too.
OT, I know, but this bit from a famous 4th of July speech speaks to the question of whether you're obligated to engage in "reasonable debate" with people who will deny your humanity. The Concern Trolls have always been with us.
But I fancy I hear some one of my audience say, "It is just in this circumstance that you and your brother abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more, an denounce less; would you persuade more, and rebuke less; your cause would be much more likely to succeed."
-- Frederick Douglass, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro"
I do not give strangers permission to collect my email address. I also don't understand how you folks got so dependent on any social media platform that you cry, gnash your teeth and tear out your hair when it changes on you. Get over it. It's pathetic. What do you think people did before Twitter? They lived without it. So can you. I'm so tired of the weeping and the Elon this, Elon that crap.
If you're a writer or musician or any kind of artist that depends on having an audience, then you're probably going to use social media to reach a bigger audience. Because it's how you pay the rent. Me, I'm not on Twitter, but I don't have to be, my livelihood doesn't depend on being seen and heard. But even though I'm not on Twitter, I'm not going to take some kind of morally superior attitude towards those that are, especially when they need to be there to eat.
As someone who avoided Twitter as much as possible and feels that social media was a net negative for society, I think that the disappointment people are feeling about Twitter is totally understandable. It sucks to see something ruined just because a rich guy felt like it.
I like wandering around the grocery store. Even though people survived without grocery stores for centuries, if Musk buys all of them and makes people pay $8 to get in the checkout line and every aisle is filled with people shouting racist slurs and promoting crypto scams, I'm going to be bummed out.
People chose a privately owned social media platform, but why chose ANY social media platform as a marketing tool? Who the hell does that? It's stupid.
Working with community non-profit organizations, I've found that you use social media because that is where you find people who might be interested in your organization.
It's not the only online marketing tool and one doesn't rely on just Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.
One organization that I work with uses MailChimp for a weekly email newsletter.
The MailChimp content is reposted to social media automatically (Facebook, Twitter) along with being emailed to subscribers.
The newsletter content is copy / pasted into a WordPress web site and that is automatically re-posted to social media.
This information goes out through several channels. We are not relying solely on social media but we don't ignore that it exists and some people use it.
"If you're a journalist, author, artist, or anyone else who uses social media for business purposes..." There are many people who ARE dependent on social media platforms for their livelihood. Just because you're not one of them doesn't mean you have to disparage them. If you don't like it, you can scroll on by.
Considering that I posted the comment a few days ago, and that it is my opinion (which I am fully entitled to express), your tut-tutting tells us more about you than about me.
The internet is vast. Making your own website isn't difficult. What did writers and artists do before social media became a vast cesspool of trash that nobody with half a brain still uses? Do you have any idea how much disinformation and brain-numbing dreck is already on social media?
Yes! I started my newsletter Poppies & Propofol because there are not enough nuanced newsletters from physicians, and social media is... unstable. I don't use it to drive business, but speaking directly to the niche audience interested in medicine and ethics is more rewarding than Twitter, where it's easier to attract the hoards of anti-vax and anti-abortion trolls.
https://alyssaburgart.substack.com/