Where do we go from here?

Why yes, I am quoting Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

My own plan for social media

Warning: Looooong post ahead!

Eight years ago I decided to stop purchasing books, or really anything from Amazon, if I could help it. I’ve been doing this ever since, rarely talking about it because I was doing it for me, and I knew I was an extreme outlier…especially during the pandemic. I did not delete my account, and in fact I enjoy “reverse-showrooming” Amazon. I look for what I want on Amazon, and then go search to find another place to get it, often directly from the manufacturer. I use Apple Books or Libby to acquire books particularly. This may have been prompted by some of their political behavior during the 2016 election, but I had been disenchanted with their predatory market practices for a long time. Amazon was able to undercut entire sectors on price because their board didn’t care about profitability for a LONG time, as long as revenue and market share grew. (It could be a whole post on its own.) So I have not been 100% perfect in eight years, but I focus on witholding revenue/market share from them

A couple of years ago I left Twitter. I was user ten thousand and something, joining in 2006, even before their breakout moment at SXSW 2007. The trigger for this departure was the dissolution of their already-weak trust and safety and moderation policies…along with the BS around being able to acquire verified status by paying for it and no longer actually caring to, you know, VERIFY someone’s identity. Again, I did not delete my account. I’ve been @elisac or @elisacp on the social web for 20+ years, and given their lack of commitment to prevent impersonation, i didn’t feel like putting those handles up for grabs. I took my account private, removed the app, and stopped using it. Now I can no longer acccess it because they want my phone number in order to use my log-in, and I’m not giving them that. Twitter is judged on active users and ad revenue, so they get none of that from me even if the account still exists.

Flash forward to today. You can be forgiven for not knowing where to go online that doesn’t feel compromised and icky. Because there really is nowhere.

Meta has also sidelined moderation, trust and safety, DEI, and fact-checking. none of which were their strong suit to begin with. Mark Zuckerjerk seems angry he was ever scolded for violating people’s trust (and data privacy) and contributing to a disinformation flood that has altered world events for a decade or more. P4547’s election seems to have liberated him from trying to look like a good corporate citizen. I think he’s being exactly who he’s always been inside. Meta owns Facebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, and Threads.

TikTok, whose algorithm knew me better than anyone, decided to use the, dare I say, entirely bipartisan ban (kicked off by P4547) as an excuse to do some pre-inauguration fluffing of P4547. Their shenanigans the weekend before Inauguration Day were completely unnecessary and manipulative, and annoying AF. So yeah. Loved TikTok, but feel very differently about them now.

BlueSky seems to be everyone’s darling, and it’s great in some ways, especially since Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey no longer has anything to do with it (other than, I assume, some ownership). Perhaps its best feature is that among all the platforms I’m talking about it seems to hold it against users the least when they share links that go off the platform. [Total side note: It’s so quaint to think about BlogHer’s mission which was about sending traffic away from us to the bloggers in our directory and our network. Seriously, what were we thinking? Oh, yeah, we were thinking about community, not captivity.] But BlueSky has taken VC funding, and I KNOW what taking funding does. Once you take that funding you have signed up for an obligation to deliver returns to those investors. And those investors do include some crypto-dudes. All I’m saying is we shouldn’t fool ourselves that it’s somehow pure.

YouTube and Reddit were never my jam because back in the day when I was doing research on social media usage, those were the only two platforms not dominated by women users. Why? Because they had little to no moderation and were cesspools of terrible comments and terrible anonymous users. Not to mention that YouTube was proven to send users down extremist rabbit holes, turning average young (mostly) men into radicalized incels. My bad impression of them stuck.

Substack (which obviously I’m using right now) has been the place so many writers I know have turned. There are many advantages. Yes, it feels almost like having a blog again. You can use Substck to post written content, publish audio and video, start Chats and even try to use Notes sort of like a Twitter experience. It’s prety simple. You can monetize. It’s supposed to provide a network effect, especially as its app almost feels like Googel Reader for newsletter. (Although, TBH I haven’t really felt a network effect boost.) If you feel a “but…” coming, it is this: Like every one of these tools, it has taken lots of external funding, and I have begun to think of the founders as what I call “Elon-abees.” Their idea of free speech ignores that they are not the government and don’t *have* to be a platform for any speech, no matter how hateful. Their idea of free speech seeks to give them plausible deniability from having responsibility for hate content or propaganda or disinformation, but wants us not to begrduge them taking their 10% of every dollar the hatemongers make on the platform. Or not point out that they also have an algorithm that pushes content, which begs the question, are they putting their thumbs on the scale for hate speech?

Even if you’ve thrown up your hands about trying to make ethics-based decisions about what platforms to use, let’s talk about algorithms a bit. BlueSky prides itself on not having one, so yes, you can see a feed from the people you’re following in chronological order. Which is a win. But after 20+ year in the social web streets, it is exceedingly tiresome to me to try to find all the people I like and build back up, not my following, but the people I followed.

OTOH, algorithms has diluted the culture of all the other platforms. From LinkedIn to TikTok to Instagram you are likely to see mostly content from people you don’t follow, ads, and other promoted content that seems way off base (like every other random Group on Facebook). Each platform used to have its vibe. Twitter was a cocktail party. Facebook was your living room. Instagram was a gallery. LinkedIn was a conference mixer. Now they all seem kind of the same; they all seem equally overrun by content I didn’t ask for and don’t want.

SO. Back to the question: Where do we go from here. or to speak only for myself, where am I going when I go online?

1. What I’m doing about Meta

   My immediate reaction to Meta’s recent moves was to think they provided me as much motivation to leave it as there was to leave Twitter when I did. I also am compelled, however, by this Feminista Jones comment on Threads:

Link.

It didn’t kill Twitter when I and people like me left. In fact, it just left it to the state it is in today as a haven for N4z1s and r4c1sts. Twitter was never the place that had everyone using it; it was always more of a platform to witness the cultural zeitgeist than a mass communications platform. It gives greater weight to whatever is on it than is reflected in “the real world,” especially because too many journalists still rely more on it than other platforms.

Also, to Feminista’s point, I kow some people hope enough users will delete their Meta accounts that they will feel some pain. I think it’s highly unlikely that’s how they’ll feel pain. Going back more than 10 years Facebook already had 85% of U.S. online adults as account holders. Even if every single Democratic voter quit Meta, it would be a blip. And again, we’d be ceding, in this case, a mass communications platform to the people who will sue it to spread hate, propaganda, and disinformation.

Now, since their user base doesn’t have room to grow eponentially, there are three ways they continue to exhibit the kind of growth that Wall Street rewards, even when they’re already such a behemoth:

1. Revenue growth, obvs.

2. They have focused on and succeeded in growing users internationally

3. They invest in growing each user’s time spent. (Because more time spent means more data and means more opportunities to advertise to those users.) Most of Facebook’s ads are pay per click, vs, impression, and that kind of advertising is a numbers game…the more views, the more clicks. This can explain the strategy behind acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. And breaking Messenger off into a separate app. And encouraging people to raise money on the platform (time spent and collecting people’s credit cards in this case).

How I currently use Meta apps and how I’ll adjust this to withold my time spent and revenue from Meta:

• Settings: Across Meta apps I have long had my tightest security “hygiene.” I do not use Facebook log-in on other sites and never have. I’ve turned off any tools that are supposed to “improve” my ad experience. I don’t share location, phone number, credit card, and other unnecessary sensitive information. I don’t share automatically from one Meta app to another. The list goes on.

• I use Facebook mostly to post my daily Wordle (to a restricted audience) and to “reverse showroom” birthdays. (I look at the birthdays and then I try to actually TEXT people a Happy Birthday message if I have their number.) I occasionally post links to relevant content from my business, Optionality, but we consciously decided not to launch a Facebook page for that business. Adjustment: I’ve closed the tab in my browser that was always open, which led me to check Facebook more frequently than was necessary. I’ve resolved never to click on another Meta ad again in any platform. I’m going to reverse showroom them like I reverse showroom Amazon. I don’t think I’ll do much more than this at this point.

• I’ve never downloaded Messenger and never will.

• I’ve been a haphazard and half-hearted Instagram user all this time. I mostly post food pics. Then I started cross-posting my political TikTok videos there. While I admit their ads seem to get me, my feed is way too much people I don’t follow and ads. Adjustment: I’ve given IG the Twitter treatment. I’ve stopped sharing and moved the app off of my home screen to a folder I check once a day only to see if I have any comments from someone in my community. And again, reverse showrooming means I’ll never click on another ad there.

• I am not a WhatsApp user…the one chat group I’m in that is super active decided to move to Signal when Roe was overturned because we talk about repro rights pretty regularly. Adjustment: WA is also off my home screen…out of sight and out of mind, and that’s an easy call. I don’t miss it at all.

• That leaves Threads. Threads still feels like early Twitter to me. A little chaotic and fun. Because Threads let you automatically follow people you followed on Instagram I immediately had 1,000 people to hear from. Threads has an algorithm that is OK and getting better. I discover new, diverse voices every day. And especially voices that are politically activated with whom I’m aligned. Unlike my initial social media approach in the good old days I am fast to block, hide, mute, and restrict. It is not my ministry to debate bad faith arguments. Threads is also not being directly monetized via advertising yet. Which, granted, makes it easier for me to justify spending any Meta time there. I do feel like there is true activated community there, looking to support one another for the next four years of mayhem. For now, I’m staying. Adjustment: Yes, I’m trying to be more active on BlueSky and trying to enjoy it more. It seems the most likely candidate to completely replace Threads.

Overall re: Meta: Focusing on usage where the community feels plugged in and activated by shared political values. Witholding revenue, sensitive data, and time spent, the three things I believe they want most from me.

2. What I’m doing about Tiktok

   I can not feel the same about TikTok since their shutdown dramatics and manipulation and P4547-fluffing. Adjustment: For now I’ve moved it off my home screen into a folder. I haven’t created a video since, and I visit it rarely now. And while I had just started buying a couple of things from TikTok Shop, I’ve obviously stopped that! I do not know if I can ever truly go back, which is a little painful, because I really did LOVE Tiktok…it’s part of how I got through the first couple years of the pandemic shutdown.

3. What I’m doing about Substack

   Oof, this one is actually annoying. For Optionality we are currently exploring different platforms for our Premium member community, which would be inclusive of a new place to publish content for our Public members. I think once we figure that out, it’s a pretty easy choice to move this newsletter somewhere too. I know there are other choices like Ghost and Buttondown, for example.

4. So that’s a lot of reducing, am I adding anything?

   Well, we continue to think LinkedIn is important for Optionality, so even though I find it totally frustrating and utterly opaque, I’m definitely sticking to it. (And BTW, people are starting to do what I’ve done forever, and share their political perspectives and values on LinkedIn, and I’m down with getting more insight into people’s “full selves.”) And after 20 years, I guess I’m finally thinking I need to figure out YouTube, not just as an occasional viewer, but as a creator. I never believed the hype from a few years back that only video was going to matter online, but I do think it matters. And I actually enjoy making it. Is Google some tech-company-saint? No. There was Sundar in the front row of the inaugration last month, after all. But I’m thinking they’re a more stable platform than TikTok.

So there you have it. Where I plan to go from here. I reserve the right to change my mind. These are opinions loosely held. These are turbulent times that call for flexibility and a willingness to admit when you’re wrong. Which begs this question: Where are you going from here??????? Please tell me. You can even try to change my approach to one you think is even more effective or ethical or sustainable. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

What else is going on?

Out in the world

Carla Hall launched a magazine!

Optionality Advisor Carla Hall launched Carla Hall’s Sweet Heritage Magazine, and I’m in the first issue! Talking about building community natch. Starting on page 18, check it out:

Optionality

It’s our party, and we’ll take a real holiday break if we want to. Which we did. And then I got my first-ever bout of COVID almost immediately in the New Year. (Yes, my first time. Yes, I thought I was invicible and that they should study my DNA, obviously. Yes, I spent almost 5 years being super careful so as not to give COVID to my elderly mom, and then she gave it to me!)

That being said, here are some links to check out form the last couple of months:

Our most recent #Conversationality covers some of the issues I discuss above, but also I go off on a #theatrenerd tangent and talk about absurdist theatre and Pinter Pauses.

I shared a story from the BlogHer days about bucking conventional management wisdom and NOT accepting someone’s resignation:

I do not accept your resignation.

And finally: Save the date for our second Optionality IRL event, in Oakland, CA on 02/26. The topic? Personal Pivots. Numerous Optionality members are at various stages of big pivots, and we want to hear their stories about how they made big decisions, how they mitigated risks, how they steeled their mindsets, and how they tackled priactical considerations.

That’s it for today. Until next time, please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on any or all of the above. This is basically my blog now! And as always, I appreciate a share of Optionality and this newsletter.

Thanks for reading!

-E