I know I sound old and grouchy and out of touch too AND I'm catastrophizing. But when do the super-rich start charging us for oxygen? We can already see how successful they are at getting us accustomed to paying for water. I keep looking at the socioeconomic conditions that led to the French Revolution and checking YouTube for knitting lessons and guillotine assembly videos. I wanna be ready.
I can only speak for myself, but... I was completely addicted to Twitter (not as a poster, but as an observer and news junkie) and opened the app at least 5 to 10 times a day. A weird thing, happened, though: The day Musk took over, I quit cold turkey, and haven't looked back. Granted, it's only been a week, but just the thought of withholding something from that man -- even in the tiniest, smallest way -- seems to be enough to finally break my Twitter habit. Plus, it's sure to descend further into toxicity and chaos under his "leadership."
Great post. I resent the idea that writers should have to promote their own work if it’s published in an outlet. (Although I get why it’s necessary if you’re writing independently or for a book publisher.) I know I sound old and grouchy and out of touch, but why should these companies get that free labor? They have social media teams (and if those teams are stretched too thin, they should expand them). And now on top of it a writer should have to pay to be verified? I wonder if some companies will absorb that cost?
Also interesting to think about non-writers. Economists, epidemiologists, scientists. I don’t see how field experts can go without verification.
Thank you for this great analysis that is helping me organize my own thoughts. I'm feeling personally relieved that Twitter is not where I've put my biggest social media energy -- if Elon Musk bought Instagram, I'd be much more stressed about the whole thing. And while I haven't quit Twitter yet, I'm semi-poised to do so and don't plan to replace it with another platform (no thank you Mastodon) because I already do enough free labor for these platforms!! Substack is imperfect for sure, but it is giving writers another way to do this thing and be paid for it, and I'm so glad to be here.
Honestly, the 'people's choice' utopia that social media sold us, has never existed - the minute the like button (called 'favourites' back in the day on twitter) was invented, along with the word 'followers' (as opposed to readers) it became apparent the internet was basically just turning itself into a high school popularity contest all over again. Just that now someone is attempting to make money off a status symbol (the blue check).
I know I sound old and grouchy and out of touch too AND I'm catastrophizing. But when do the super-rich start charging us for oxygen? We can already see how successful they are at getting us accustomed to paying for water. I keep looking at the socioeconomic conditions that led to the French Revolution and checking YouTube for knitting lessons and guillotine assembly videos. I wanna be ready.
I can only speak for myself, but... I was completely addicted to Twitter (not as a poster, but as an observer and news junkie) and opened the app at least 5 to 10 times a day. A weird thing, happened, though: The day Musk took over, I quit cold turkey, and haven't looked back. Granted, it's only been a week, but just the thought of withholding something from that man -- even in the tiniest, smallest way -- seems to be enough to finally break my Twitter habit. Plus, it's sure to descend further into toxicity and chaos under his "leadership."
I feel heard and seen. Meet you on the barricades, my love!
Great post. I resent the idea that writers should have to promote their own work if it’s published in an outlet. (Although I get why it’s necessary if you’re writing independently or for a book publisher.) I know I sound old and grouchy and out of touch, but why should these companies get that free labor? They have social media teams (and if those teams are stretched too thin, they should expand them). And now on top of it a writer should have to pay to be verified? I wonder if some companies will absorb that cost?
Also interesting to think about non-writers. Economists, epidemiologists, scientists. I don’t see how field experts can go without verification.
Thank you for this great analysis that is helping me organize my own thoughts. I'm feeling personally relieved that Twitter is not where I've put my biggest social media energy -- if Elon Musk bought Instagram, I'd be much more stressed about the whole thing. And while I haven't quit Twitter yet, I'm semi-poised to do so and don't plan to replace it with another platform (no thank you Mastodon) because I already do enough free labor for these platforms!! Substack is imperfect for sure, but it is giving writers another way to do this thing and be paid for it, and I'm so glad to be here.
Honestly, the 'people's choice' utopia that social media sold us, has never existed - the minute the like button (called 'favourites' back in the day on twitter) was invented, along with the word 'followers' (as opposed to readers) it became apparent the internet was basically just turning itself into a high school popularity contest all over again. Just that now someone is attempting to make money off a status symbol (the blue check).