Tag: twitter

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Mastodon

If you’re here on a blog in the year of 2022, then bless your little heart. I have been using Twitter since 2006 when it was just Twittr, and it was born out of AOL Instant Messenger status culture.

I remember when it was seen as a mostly nerdy thing back then and people had a hard time grasping its differences to Facebook, which had a bit more traction at the time.

I remember when the word ”tweet” starting catching on and how that was divisive.

My point being that any change is usually tumultuous at best and that things will eventually settle.

It is the arrogance of every age to believe that yesterday was calm.
— Tom Peters, Wired 5.12, Dec 1997

I looked into Mastodon about four years ago, when Twitter was making stupid changes to their API that limited the functionality of third-party apps12. The only deterrent of creating an account was: not many people were there.

Well, times are a’changing, and maybe the (my) hope for an actual open web built on standards and interoperability lives on. Many of my tweeps are moving to Mastodon, and I have setup my own server, and it feels like fresh breath.

I don’t anticipate a massive onboarding outside the nerds like me who have been waiting for this moment. One of the points about the fediverse is the decision of choosing a server (community, or home), where your account will live. I admit that was part of my hesitancy at first as well. I just went with creating my own community.

Comic strip demonstrating anytime a new standard is created, it leads to more standards as old ones are not deprecated.

This seems applicable regarding social media sites.

No one owns Mastadon. It will not be subject to advertisers. The whole point is to build connections between accounts. You will not see everything all the time, but you can follow people and all their posts no matter where they are4.

It is confusing at times, messy too, but it’s that hill I’ll die on for what the open web should, and could be.

Find me here: https://social.4score7pongs.com/@jarbochov

  1. Arguably the best way to experience Twitter. ↩
  2. Most of Twitter absorbed functionality was sherocked by third party apps. ↩
  3. Currently you can’t move your posts. But you can download them and I imagine that will be in the roadmap depending on how popular and supported the platform is. ↩
  4. not to mention, much better moderation tools in general. ↩
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Twitter

With Twitter’s possible inevitable collapse, I find myself wanting to go back to the blog. You know, before the whole microblog.

Twitter was never perfect and maybe it can and will be better. Time will only tell. RSS never died. Podcasting and feed readers still power the truly democratized web envisioned decades ago. Newsletters are also a thing still?

Also spoiler alert for those who gave up on RSS the day Google Reader died… there are a ton of options now and they’re all pretty good. Even local options that don’t require a platform. But the social options aren’t there in most cases, but that’s okay. You can just share what you find on Twit…. your blog.

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The Jarbochov Weekly Roundup (August 20th, 2021)

Can you believe it’s already the 20th of August? I have to admit I’m not that motivated to write this week’s weekly roundup, but alas, the roundup must go on. If you’ve been overwhelmed by what’s happening currently with rising Covid-19 numbers, and everything regarding Afghanistan, you’re not alone. Don’t let social media convince you that you need to be outspoken about current events if you don’t want to. It’s okay to not.

GET TO IT!
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Google Buzz. Sting!

Google Buzz has debuted with a lot of buzz itself. A few privacy concerns have popped up that Google has addressed here, and here.  Google Buzz has an advantage: A huge head start of users via Gmail. I envision Buzz  being a social aggregator nearing the awesomeness of what Friendfeed was before Facebook acquired them is. Currently it’s no where near real time which they will improve upon. Google has made Buzz a core product integrating it to its mobile site, Reader,  Gmail and even circumventing Latitude for a mobile location service.

It’s young, and has plenty of room to grow. But it’s already ages ahead of where Twitter and Facebook debuted. I think you’ll find yourself using it more and more as time goes on.