Social Media – Page 5 – Life on the Wicked Stage: Act 3

Why and How I Use Mastodon

We’ve just marked the anniversary of Elon Musk purchasing Twitter. You could call it the beginning of the end. Many see it as a dark day. I’m just the opposite. Musk buying Twitter and then selfishly and sadistically delighting in destroying it will probably go down in history as one of the best things that could have happened to and on the Internet. And perhaps civilization. Maybe not. Regardless, Musk jolted folks out of complacency and into a self-reexamination that in my opinion tilts the scale of humanity to the better side.

We’re a year into whatever this moment is or will be and it’s been a bumpy ride. Like many of those who saw what was coming I began looking for a new social media home. I’ve tried out most of the social media alternatives that have sprung up. Currently I’m on Mastodon , Bluesky and Threads. You can also find me on Facebook, Instagram and a few other places. Regardless of the digs, my shingle is my real name. But where I feel the most comfortable, most informed, most entertained, and most aligned is Mastodon.

Welcome to the land where Mastodons roam. Here’s why and here’s how I use Mastodon.

Of the many things I’m interested in I like to keep current with events. I like to discover new things. News, yes, but not just news. Every day I learn something new is a good day is not only my mantra but it’s why my two great passions in life, making theatre and playing with technology, keep me going. I also love to share discoveries. I’m a theatre director. I share stories that others write. I write the occasional one myself. So, yes I’m a storyteller but also a story sharer. Combine all of that into a mix and I think that’s why the Internet should exist. And for me, that’s why social media as a construct works. Here’s the bio I use on social media websites:

Gadfly. Flying through life as a gadget geek and theatre artist…commenting along the way. Every day I learn something new is a good day. Boosts offered without endorsement. Comments on the other hand…

When it comes to comments and opinions I’m an opinionated SOB. I’ve got enough mileage on me to not give a damn if you disagree with mine, but to respect that you have one. Even if you’re wrong. I find humor and sadness to be two sides of the same coin. Pain and joy the same. I wish we lived on the edge of those coins more than we’re able or comfortable with. Because the highs and lows of life really are on the edges. Not on flat surfaces lying on flat surfaces held down by gravity.

Mastodon was and is a reaction to the evolution and destruction of Twitter. I first opened a Mastodon account long before Musk mucked up his new joint. But I didn’t really start using it until I was a part of the first big wave of Twitter refugees looking for a new place to do the things social media does for me. Mastodon, a year into regular usage does that.

Now let me be clear. In my view the success or lack thereof of any congregation depends on the users and those who own or control it working in tandem. Users are like having employees. The minute you have one employee you have an employee problem. Given Mastodon’s place in the larger Fediverse and the large number of federated servers, many with different rules of the road, I’m amazed things seem to have settled in they way they feel to me. There have been some hiccups, and moments of angst, but the folks I’m following and who follow me seem to be the sort of characters I’d like to hang out with in a bar. I’m constantly exposed to new thoughts, new things, new people and I feel like what I share is generally welcomed, agreed with or not. There are very few days when I feel I haven’t learned something new.

Is it a place just for like-minds? Maybe. Time will tell. But I think not exclusively. Witness the discussions currently as the world is experiecing the trauma in the Middle East. There’s tension. And it’s real. There’s divergent views. How could there not be? If there’s common ground it’s one that feels grounded somewhat in respect. I could be wrong, that could change, but that’s how I feel it at the moment.

Do I think that will last forever? Not on your life. As far as Internet gathering places, and I’ve gathered at a bunch from BBS’s to forums to chatrooms to where we are today, they always end up changing. Typically for the worse. Users and waves of users come and go. Things change. Such is life.

So that’s the WHY. Here’s the HOW.

The key for me is Lists. I follow a ton of folks and interests. Trying to keep up in my Home feed is almost, but not quite impossible so I rely on separating areas of interests into Lists. I break my key Lists down this way:
Favorites: People and interests I want to keep up with in general
VIP: Folks I want to see every thing they toot.
Apple: Apple (and other) tech journalists, geeks, and developers I want to keep an eye on what they’re working or reporting on.
Chicago: Folks and topics from where I live.
Old People of Mastodon: Folks like myself that have accumulated some mileage. That list is generated via a hashtag.
Lisa Melton: This prolific booster has her own list and it’s through her generous sharing I discover so many new folks and ideas. I can’t imagine Mastodon without her.
Laffy: The best person to follow for up to date poltiical news, especially during our current lifetime of legal linguini. If I need a quck catch up on the day I can without fail catch up by viewing this List of her toots.

I also have lists for Science, Photography, Theatre, and the Arts. These I follow as hashtags. I create others as I discover things of interest I want to follow.

Within that VIP List I have a select few folks I’ve set up Notifications for. Meaning if they toot I’m going to see it on my iPhone or my Apple Watch.

On the Mac via the web I use the Advanced Web Interface mostly because it constantly updates the number of columns I’ve chosen. Occasionally I’ll use Ivory. I’d use it more if it updated continuosly. (Can you tell I miss Tweetdeck?)

On iPhones and iPads I’m using a combination of the apps Ivory, IceCubes and Mona. I like to vary things up a bit. Ivory is my go to on the iPhone but there are things I like about IceCubes and Mona as well. Mona is my go to on the iPad. I like its handling of columns the best on that device. With Ivory on any of those devices I can also keep track of and post to my acounts on Bluesky and Pixelfed.

I have an older Android phone for testing some things out and I use the app Trunks on that device.

On my Apple Watch I use the excellent app Stomp. I don’t spend much time with it (or any app for that matter) on the Apple Watch, but if I’m out and about and I get a notification from someone on my VIP list, it’s a handy way to quickly glance at what they’re tooting about.

I use Hashtags a lot and find them handy if I need to search for something. Being able to follow a Hashtag and pin it to a column in the Advanced Web Interface is a real plus. I also use Favorites and Bookmarks to keep track of toots I may want to refer back to. Favorites is also a great way to acknowledge someone else’s toot. I try to do a #FollowFriday toot each week sharing new folks I stumble across.

And yes I refer to what people put on Mastodon as a “toot.” I understand some despise the use of “toot.” Get over yourselves and welcome some whimsy into your life. (Told you I was opinionated.)

So there it is. The Why and How of why I enjoy Mastodon and spend the overwhelmingly majority of my social media life on that website. As I said, I’m also on Bluesky and Threads. I’m not sure Bluesky knows what it wants to be any longer, which is probably why I can’t figure it out either. I’ve still got some invites for Bluesky if you want to try and figure it out. And Threads is having a bit of of a social media moment, currently gaining traction among a new wave of refugees from Musk’s mayhem. What’s funny to have witnessed on both sites is the exact same series of new user reactions as I witnessed on Mastodon.

Here’s the script:

This place feels so much nicer.

There’s no nazis here.

Where is this feature?

I’m having a hard time getting my followers to move here.

I miss my “whatever number of followers” from Twitter but the engagement is better here.

Block liberally. We don’t want this here.

I’ve replaced Twitter with this app on my Home Screen.

I’m not contributing on Twitter any more except to tell my followers I’m here.

I’m not contributing on Twitter any more except to check in now and then. Boy has it gotten worse.

I’m not contributing to Twitter any more and I’m thinking of deleting my acount.

This is why I deleted my account on Twitter.

Which in the end points out that the only thing that separates social media interaction from the local bar or diner, the church recreation hall, or any place humans gather is use of the Internet. To each his/her own. At the moment I feel like Mastodon is the place I want to hang out for a few drinks and enjoy some fellowship. I’ll continue to visit others and participate there as well. Because you never know when someone’s going to come in and wreck the joint.

Oh, and you can find me at Mastodon here.

Sunday Morning Reading

Back home after a two-week road trip supporting my wife teaching her summer acting camp. Needless to say we’re pooped. The kids were amazing. Regardless, here’s some Sunday Morning Reading to share.

Movies are big news this summer because of a couple of big original ones (Barbie and Oppenheimer), but also because the unions for writers and actors are on strike. James Surowiecki in The Atlantic lands a take on the strike and says Netflix opened the door for this upheaval in A Strike Scripted by Netflix.

One of my favorite writers I’ve recentlly discovered, Natasha MH, pens an incredible review of Barbie entitled The One About Barbie.

And while I’m raving about Natasha MH, take a look at this incredible piece of hers, The Need to Write and The Will to Heal From Our Traumatic Experiences. Excellent.

And since it’s Sunday, I think this piece by Jake Meador called The Misunderstood Reason Millions of Americans Stopped Going to Church is a worthy read. I’m not so sure it’s so misunderstood.

George Dillard in Rome Magazine tackles the orange guy racking up indictments like bowling pins in Trump’s Defense: I’m a Stupid Liar.

I rarely link to pieces I find ridiculous in Sunday Morning Reading. But this one is rarely ridiculous in how the logic turns in on itself and defeats the entire point. David Brooks takes on the what’s happening in American politics and wonders What If We’re The Bad Guys Here? Think of it as comedy.

And to close out this week, here’s an excellent piece by Elizabeth Lopatto in The Verge, What Would The Internet Of People Look Like Now? Hits to how we got to where we are today in this crazy thing called “online.”

If you’re interested in just what the heck Sunday Morning Reading is all about you can read more about the origins of Sunday Morning Reading here.

Meta Meets the Moment with Threads. (For the Moment)

You gotta hand it to that huckster Zuckerberg. He and his Meta team have certainly met the moment with the release of his Twitter killer, Threads. It’s not that the app is all that great in this version 1. (More on that later.) But Zuck pushed this thing out with such gusto and killer timing that he was able to eaisly take advantage of Elon Musk’s baffling and ballooning buffoonery. When billionaires go for each other’s throats apparently they use guillotines.

Sure, these social media wars aren’t over yet. Far from it. But these wounds are deep. The number of signups on Threads keeps rising so fast I won’t even hazard a guess at how many millions there have been for fear of the number being old news before I finish writing this. And on it goes.

And on it will go. I don’t think we’ve ever seen such an underpantsing as Zuck put on Musk. He’s taking advantage of someone who has made himself such a detestable target, that Zuckerberg, not all that well liked himself, is momentarily being thought of as the conqueror Elon and his detestables dreamed of being. It’s deliciously funny. But it is also frightening when you take a moment and think about it.

Again, there’s no guarantee Threads will carry this moment’s momentum into something resembling what Twitter was before Musk took MAGA torches to it. And while in this really crazy, and what seems historic, rush there seems to be an appetite for this kind of “everybody into the pool” replacement. That’s guaranteed to fade once ads, bots, spammers, etc… inevitably get their chance to piss in the pool. That’s gonna happen.

The Threads team also needs to move quickly to address some serious missing pieces for a social media app in this day and age. There’s nothing that speaks to accessibility in the app yet. There’s no web access from a browser forcing everyone to use it on their phones. Hashtags aren’t there yet. Forget searching. Or sending direct messages. These are table stakes in the social media game. Lots of iPad users are complaining that there isn’t an iPad app. Don’t hold your breath on that one. This thing is connected to your social network via Instagram and there’s still no appetite for an iPad app from Instagram yet in what seems like another front in the Billionaires Battles, this one between Meta and Apple.

Just about everyone is screaming to only have their feed show only folks they are following. Same here. But, folks, let’s get real. These companies need to push all sorts of stuff into your eyeballs in order to make bigger bank. We lived through this with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and the rest. We will probably see some soft of attempt at appeasement here, but it’s not going to last. Don’t kid yourself.

There’s also talk of Meta doing the federated thing with Threads. That’s got pros and cons and lots of consternation stirred up among those who see the beneift of protocols like Activity Pub in the Fediverse. (If you have no idea what that means, don’t worry. Most don’t.) I have my doubts things will go this way. But if it does, there’s going to all sorts of noise made on places like Mastodon and beyond.

So this story has offered a slam bang opening number and for a variety of reasons appears to be sucking many in to see what’s next while it sucks ever more life out of Elon’s Twitter. There’s more to come and more to know when it does. About the only thing we know in this moment is things are changing. But they always are. Score this moment for Meta. Enjoy the ride while we watch it play out.

Oh, and you can find me on Threads at https://www.threads.net/@warnercrocker