Tag Archives: social media

15 years of Twitter

It was 15 years ago today when I finally decided to start Twitter. I say ‘finally decided’ because I was in a network of bloggers who were already on board and it seemed every day I was reading some new convert’s blog post about what a great tool it was. And they were right! I loved it so much, I wrote an ebook about how to get started:

But Twitter has changed, and I’m not just talking about Elon Musk’s blue verification fiasco. No, the changes started long before that. For educators, the glory days were 2007-2010 or 2011. That’s when there were amazing resources being shared for their value to teachers rather than businesses. That’s when educators shared ideas on blog posts and full conversations about the post would happen in the blog comments and on Twitter.

After that there was a shift. The tone went from ‘look at this great resource or interesting post’ to look at my post or my tweet, and corporate tweets seemed to be promoted by the same people. I’d share a blog post and it would be auto-retweeted by educators who used to read my posts before they were shared. And less conversations happened because the next tweet was more important than the previous one.

For the last few years Twitter has been more of a one-way distribution of my blog rather than a place I engage in. When I hit ‘Publish’ on this post, it auto-posts to Twitter, my blog’s Facebook page, and LinkedIn without me having to go to any of those sites… and sometime I won’t go to them for a few days at a time.

I long for the days of old-Twitter. I’d happily put up with the Fail Whale again (which popped up when servers couldn’t meet demand) just to get the old, exciting engagements back. But I’m afraid those little Twitter birds aren’t keeping the whale up like they used to. Twitter might survive the fiascos it faces today, but it won’t ever recapture what it lost long ago.

Beyond Google

About 17 or 18 years ago when my oldest was 5 or 6, she asked me a question and I responded, “I don’t know?” So, she walked into our office and went to our desktop computer and asked Google. She didn’t think twice about it, she just went to find the answer on the search engine that became a verb: ‘Have a question? Just Google it.’

But shortly after that I started to learn that for some things my network was better than Google:

Now social media sites are the new Google, articles like this one, ‘Many Gen Zers don’t use Google. Here’s why they prefer to search on TikTok and Instagram,’ explain that for many searches the younger generation are bypassing Google and going directly to TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and even Pinterest to look for things that older folks would Google.

Looking for makeup tips? TikTok or Instagram. Looking for help changing your car’s turn signal light? YouTube. There are many reasons to trust either your network or people using appropriate tags that you search on social media more than some website that has maximized its SEO and finds itself at the top of a Google search… with little reference to what you are actually searching for.

It’s now an era where a Google search is just one of many search tools that might be used to answer questions you might have. Social networks and platforms are taking us on a journey beyond Google.

The News in Question

I’m already not a fan of the news. My wife will often watch the 6pm news and I usually put headphones on and listen to something else. A few days ago I was cutting some vegetables and the news was on in the background, and after 5 depressing reports one after another I had to stop listening.

Yesterday and today I had a number of news items cross my social media feed. One was a tragic incident in Korea where people were crushed and trampled. This is actual news, and, like above, very depressing. But a few other items were about news being faked or misinformation sharing.

Here is an example: A viral video of a politician being stopped by chanting audience members who were doing a derogatory chant… except in the actual footage the crowd is happily chanting the politician’s name. The fake version is the one going viral, and even making it onto supposed ‘news’ websites.

It’s bad enough that news is so negative to begin with, but it’s hard to weed out what’s real and what’s fake. It’s getting much harder to recognize the difference. And it’s getting even more important to be able to discern the difference. Do most people even try? Or do they just choose their news sources and narratives they want to follow and follow them blindly?

When I read any sensational headlines these days my first instinct isn’t to be shocked or enraged, my instinct is to question: Is this real? What’s the bias? Where should I look to fact check or validate this?

The news used to answer the questions who, what, where, when, how, and why… now it’s me that questions the news.

All atwitter

I’m fascinated by Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter. This is going to get interesting because while social media companies pretend to have community guidelines that are designed for the public good, they are private companies that can make arbitrary decisions… and they often do. There are always stories in the news about how certain perspectives are silenced, or questions about why some extreme groups are banned while others are not.

But in the end, they are private companies and they can make arbitrary decisions. Elon wasted no time making some of his own:

“Elon Musk fired key Twitter executives Thursday, one of his first moves as the official owner of the social media platform. According to reports from the New York Times, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post and other outlets, Musk fired CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal, general counsel Sean Edgett, and head of legal policy, trust and safety Vijaya Gadde.” ~ TechCrunch

I suspect that he is going to make some very subjective decisions in the coming weeks, and while the narrative used to be, “we are looking out for you as best as we can,” Elon’s message will be more like, “I’m running a private company and I make the decisions.” He will say he is trying to ‘clean up’ Twitter, but his decision-making will be very personal and I’m not sure his perspective on public good will be transparent or based on public feedback.

I’m uncertain where he’s going to take Twitter, but I don’t think the social media landscape will look the same 6 months from now.

The happiness scale

Imagine a happiness scale from Depressed at the bottom to exhilarated at the top:

– Exhilarated

– Very Happy

– Happy

– Content

– Wanting

– Bored

– Unhappy

– Depressed

I think too many people get stuck expecting most of life to be spent on the high end of that scale and so when everyday life doesn’t meet that expectation, they end up unhappier than they should be… and this can spiral into disappointment and depression.

If you aren’t content with everyday events, then you are left wanting more. If your hobbies and interests only bring you joy when you accomplish something, and not in all aspects of the experience, including the challenges, or prep work, or practice, then the joy is fleeting.

In this TikTok, David Bederman describes ‘the surfer’s mentality‘:

Some people only find joy when riding the wave, and not also the paddling out to catch the wave. Some people compare their daily life to the best life of others shared on Facebook and Instagram. Some people don’t consider a chat with a friend, a laugh at a social media post, or an hour spent lost in an engaging activity as happy times. They perceive happiness as more than that. Happiness is fleeting.

Finding happiness in your everyday life is a way to tip the scale in your favour. A way to spend more time on the upper end of the scale, to not measure yourself as less than happy, wanting more, and feeling like less. Expectation of more than this leads to seeking greater peaks, like holidays, adrenaline rides, and unsustainable nights out of entertainment to pull yourself out of wanting more.

Are you waiting for special moments to be happy, or are you looking for happiness in every day life? Are you comparing yourself to others and what they share publicly, or are you seeking moments in the now that can move your daily life to being content with happy moments interspersed throughout the day?

Because the happiness scale isn’t sustainable if you always desire to move up the scale, that expectation leads you further down the scale more often than not. Instead, the happiness scale is sustainable when you find ways to simply be content, and let happiness find you when you are doing the small things that make life interesting, challenging, enjoyable, playful, and fulfilling.

Update

I found this: Why Having Fun Is the Secret to a Healthier Life | Catherine Price | TED

And I was reminded of this recent post: Big lessons from little ones

Public spaces

It’s interesting how we think of social media as our main public spaces. When did that happen? I’m not going to wax poetic about the way things used to be, instead I’m going to ask what could be possible?

How could we create richer public spaces? What would draw people to these places? When is the last time you went to an evening presentation in a library? Or a concert in a park? (As opposed to a bar, nightclub, or theatre.)

Where can we close traffic to cars and create larger spaces for meeting and socializing?

Do we have to run special events or can we create spaces that people want to go to because they are public, open, and free?

Maybe what we have is enough, but I can’t help but wonder if we couldn’t design better public spaces, or even better neighbourhoods, that invite people to be more connected face to face. And if we did design these spaces better, would they be used? I think it’s worth thinking about, and trying. As more and more people flock to bigger and bigger communities and cities, high rises are taking over the landscape. With greater density comes greater opportunity to find like-minded people to be social with… and our public spaces should be designed to consider this.

Fully missing the point

I saw a post on LinkedIn yesterday that was more like a post you’d see on Facebook. It was essentially a ‘proud’ American saying, ‘This is my Pride flag’ with a picture of an American flag. And while I see no issue with an American being proud of their flag, I think that’s a purposefully insensitive way to express it. The comments were quite literally written from two fractured camps, and included comments that discussed women’s rights and abortion.

Then today there was this LinkedIn story, “TikTok has a new reigning champion. Khaby Lame, a 22-year-old Senegalese-born creator, became the most-followed person on TikTok last night, surpassing American TikTok star Charli D’Amelio”, and the headline was, “World’s most followed person on TikTok, Khaby Lame, is a Hafiz and practicing Muslim.” I’ve seen previous articles emphasizing that he was a factory worker. In both cases there were comments asking why his religion or his poor beginnings mattered?

What I find frustrating to see is how many people miss the point:

You can be proud of a country without intentionally belittling the pride flag. When Charli D’Amelio became the number one person followed on TikTok the storylines did not have the same emphasis as Khaby Lamé’s. I’m not sure if anyone can tell you her faith based on headlines written about her?

But it’s not just the headlines, it’s all the people that are in the comment section who also miss the point. That’s what concerns me. The headlines are a problem, but so too is the fact that so many people not only don’t see the problem with the headlines but actually support them.

Headlines matter, and when they miss the point, so do many that read the message.

Hot topics and doing your own research

Hot topics

It’s hard to write daily and not touch on hot topics. But I also know that it’s hard to discuss hot topics without being misunderstood or offending people either by intentionally being one-sided or accidentally by making unclear or poor analogies and comparisons. I wrote a whole post today on one such topic then I read and participated in a private conversation with my sisters and deleted the whole post. I didn’t save it to my drafts for later, I deleted it.

There are too many people already writing polarized views on hot topics, completely missing the point that ideas fall on a continuum, on a spectrum. I realize that I’m not knowledgeable enough to share my polarized view. I will upset people, and I will not change any minds… that’s not a good outcome that accomplishes anything.

This is a time for many to speak up, and it makes me feel like I should too. Then I try and realize my voice is the wrong voice. I wish a few more people would think the same way. We have entered a social media culture that says everyone has a voice, and there is a flood of voices not worth listening to.

Do your own research

The solution often given to so many voices sharing information is to ‘do your own research’. What a bunch of bullshit that is… ridiculous advice to solve a problem in an era where anyone can find the information they are looking for to support their already established views. Doing your own research suggests you have the background in doing research, it suggests you can read a scientific paper and understand and meaningfully interpret the data… in a field you probably know very little about.

Yes you can share your opinion, No it doesn’t hold more water than another opinion because you spent 20 minutes or even 2 hours researching it on the internet. Most serious issues are far more complex and nuanced than that. I’m not saying to not do research, however I am saying that you might find research that only supports your bias, and that research may not be interpreted properly by you or the so-called experts you choose to listen to.

It’s extremely unlikely that a blog post from a non-expert is going to change minds unless it’s intentionally deceptive or already leaning in the polarized direction you were considering. So I won’t throw my opinion out into any current polarized arguments right now. I probably will at some point if I’m writing every day, but for now I think I just need to shut up with respect to hot topics. Being vocal might make me feel good but my voice will contribute nothing new, nothing profoundly insightful. It will be nothing but another angry voice screaming on the internet. I haven’t done enough real research to believe I have anything of value to add.

He who knows not…

I’ve seen this quote attributed as both a Persian and Chines proverb, and honestly don’t know its origins:

He who knows not, 
and knows not that he knows not,
is a fool; shun him.

He who knows not,
and knows that he knows not, 
is a student; Teach him.

He who knows,
and knows not that he knows,
is asleep; Wake him.

He who knows,
and knows that he knows,
is Wise; Follow him.

I wonder how many people are fools but think they are either students or wise? This seems to be a growing number. What’s interesting is how loud this group is:

Those that are asleep, they don’t know they have something valuable to share. Those that are students know that they have so much to learn before they share. Those that are wise know how futile it is to try to change a fool’s mind. That leaves the fools to profess what they ‘know’…

This is a paradox of the fool: the less they know the more they think they need to share what they know. And they have ways to get an audience.

The thing I most love about technology is the idea that we can find a community to connect to beyond our own geography. This is also a mechanism where fools can find other fools that believe the same bullshit they believe in. They find places to reinforce their stupidity and proselytize their ignorance. It has become easy to share bad ideas, to build an audience when the ideas shared are not deserving of that audience. We don’t shun the fools, we give them (digital) podiums, and in many cases their audiences are growing.

Today it seems that bad ideas spread easier than good ones. It’s easier for misinformation to go viral, and the boring truth does not spread. Worse yet, some of the bad ideas are not spread by fools, but by the hunt for clicks and advertising dollars. Clicks trump content, and stupidity prevails.

He who knows not, and knows not that he know not shares the most. And he who knows not, and knows not that he know not is more likely to believe the others who know not and know not they they know not… And we all get a bit more exposed to the stupidity. I think one of the most important skills of the future will be BS detection, because in the coming years, I think there will be a lot more of it dig through.

Pack your shovels.

Sneaky text scams

You no longer just have to worry about email scams, now there are text scams coming your way. Yesterday I got this message:

I didn’t pay full attention to the address and went to the link. It looked totally real, with Canada post logos and the English was perfect. It said to get the parcel delivery rescheduled that I’d have to pay $1. That’s when I looked at the link address more closely and started to doubt the website.

What they want is your credit card number including the 3-digit code at the back. I’m sure they get it from many people.

I’ve also noticed a lot of text messages that seem like they are wrong numbers:

I used to try to be nice and respond to let them know they made a mistake:

But now I just block the number. I think they send these random messages to see if they get a response, then engage you in a scam.

It’s disappointing that we have to live in a world where we have to be so cautious of being duped by people. The moment I see a contest online or in my social media stream I think either scam or they are collecting data on me. I see a text from someone I don’t know and I think it was sent in bad faith. I’ve been weary of similar messages on email for a very long time. I have a contact form online that I’m going to take down because the only messages I’ve received in the last year are either trying to sell me SEO services or other inappropriate services.

Now the online scams are moving to text messages. I wish there was a way to fight this, but for now the only thing I can do is block them. I hope this acts as a warning to help others.