SOCIAL MEDIA BOLLOCKS

I am cross-posting this blurb at the following, the reasons for which will be clear enough once you read the blurb…

·        “Damned Old Crank” Blogspot - https://mexinger.blogspot.com/

·        Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/mike.exinger/

·        Twitter - https://twitter.com/MikeExinger

·        Post.News - https://post.news/mikeexinger

And for you Twitter readers, sorry, but you’ll have to go to (one of) the links to read the whole thing because of the 140-character limit.

To be honest, I don’t use Social Media all that much (yeah, I’m going to continue to capitalize it – deal).   I’ve been on the Interwebs in one form or another for almost 30 years now.  I’ve designed webpages (long live MS FrontPage!) but didn’t get on Facebook until we had the ice cream parlor and everyone said, “OMG you have to have a Facebook page so you can get reviews” and since it also required having a personal page, I did that, too.  I started my blog when I started publishing my eBooks, thinking that this would be a great advertising method AND a way to vent frustration on a variety of topics.  I got on Twitter because there were a few people I wanted to follow and I was utilizing it’s 140-character method for messaging Congressional reps and others about important issues of the day (mostly gambling related – sue me).

Over time the need to tweet lessened as gambling soon became almost ubiquitous in the states (still no online Poker in Oregon but we have a shitty Sportsbook, so there’s that).  Facebook is great for staying in touch with old friends and posting Wordle scores, and I haven’t blogged in over a year (a while variety of excused I could give you, but that’s all they are). 

Frankly, I use Social Media mostly to see what others are saying – my commentary has been reduced to clicking the “like” or “care” icons and offering responses like “Lock HIM up!” “LFG!” and “Bingo!”  It’s rare that I take the time to correct a commenter on his or her wrong-headed views of the world, of politics, of the COVID virus or vaccine, of gas prices and what causes their rise and fall, etc. etc.  Why?  See: Pig Wrestling.

So, my use of Twitter especially has been reduced to scrolling just to see what others say, and that’s why I started looking around for another spot to roost.  Twitter’s demise has been predicted for weeks now, ever since Elon Musk bought it and started to “modify” content (90% of which seems to be either about Musk, Twitter, Nazis, or “Nazis on Twitter”).  Many LIBS such as myself have been looking at other Social Media outlets like Mastodon, Tribel, BlueSky Social, etc.  Having a communication outlet controlled by someone who is…well, use your own description here.

For me, Musk is just another one of those incredibly rich assholes who believe they are infallible and can do whatever they want.  Worse yet, as they expand their empires, they attempt to “control the narrative” as to who they actually are (many websites actually credit Musk with creating PayPal, and…uh no.  That’s the BS I’m talking about).  Even this weekend the NY Times seems confused as to what Musk’s political leanings, are with the article headline: “Critics Say Musk Has Revealed Himself as a Conservative. It’s Not So Simple.”

Yeah, it is.  If the “Twitter Files” non-bombshell nothingburger, readmittance of Trump and other ultra-right-wing coup-plotters wasn’t enough, there’s this:

“My pronouns are Prosecute/Fauci”

So even if Twitter doesn’t implode like a bad-wired Tesla, I plan to leave the platform by the end of the year.  And I’ve landed, for now, at Post.News.

I don’t know if my habits will change all that much with the move.  I might post a bit more there since the long form is “in style.”  I’ve never had big followings anywhere (and the Blog was the only place that I tried to make that happen because of the books, and since they’re selling better now than ever with no posting on the blog whatsoever…), so unlike a lot of Twitter users, it’s NBD to me one way or the other.  I do admit to a morbid curiosity of wanting to watch the last days of Twitter, like when Trump finally decides to return in his futile bid to stave off further investigations or indictments, and/or whatever other follies occur there.  Frankly, I can’t recall seeing any business anywhere else go through so many changes so quickly with a new owner…and so disastrously as well.  One wonders if self-destruction was actually part of the plan.  It very well might be.

If you’re on Post.News, I hope you’ll give me a follow and I’ll return the favor. 

Side note 1:  Facebook has its own issues, and since Mark Zuckerberg reads everything on FB, let me advise him of his latest F-up – today, for some reason, whenever I “like” or “care” or choose some other icon to comment on an existing post the cursor moves up one, two, or even three stories from the one I “like” on so I can’t even see it in my browser.  WTF, Mark?

Side note 2:  Looks like Elon might reconsider the 140-character limit and bump it up to 4000.  Problem is, Mein Kampf was longer than that.