I’ve been putting off this moment — leaving Twitter and Facebook — but it’s time to say bye to Twitter and Facebook. I’m not deactivating my accounts, but I’ve become so uncomfortable posting even article links that I can’t anymore, tho I’m missing my peeps very much. I’ve been on Tw since 2008, FB 2007.
Posting these days feels like leaving a flyer on myself in a brown shirt club. Or sailing it into a maze with friends hidden between Minotaurs waiting to suck your energy. Bluesky contrasts starkly. I see my peeps’ posts immediately; I design my own algorithm; I learn cool stuff
Bluesky may look like Twitter, but it’s decentralized and part of the burgeoning Fediverse where users control their own experience. Feeds are what makes the diff. I’ve created 3: #WritersCoffeeBar, #BrainInjury, #Grief. (Join Bluesky and click on Feeds in my Profile.)
The Fediverse has exciting benefits: Design my own algorithm, choose to use my website or Bsky’s server as my user name, moderate the way I like, bridge Bluesky with mastodon, web, etc. It’s a safer way to talk about personal things like #BrainInjury.
The Verge interviewed Bluesky’s CEO. Lots of good stuff!
The science & medical communities are growing tremendously. It’s exciting learning and asking questions in an environment sans trolls, bots. Theme chats using Feed Creators can exclude spam. Climate Change expert Katharine Hayhoe invites ppl weekly to come over to Bsky to join the fun!
Bluesky notices who contributes to community growth and meets with them, eg a Toronto writer. The team replies to our questions. It’s social. It’s community. I like how focus is on chat not collecting view counts, which isn’t social but merely mimics it.
Debbie Ohi has created a super helpful Starter Thread for those new to the social platform where you curate your experience, where how much you engage determines how much real engagement you get! (notice her user name in the screenshot!)
Unlike FB and whatever Tw is doing, Bluesky doesn’t steal copyright nor your content for AI generation nor sells your data. And so I’m starting to post my photos again outside of Flickr. It’s freeing!
Unreal day leaving Twitter and Facebook, but Bluesky has rejuvenated my virtual social life.
The kidlit community is exploding. Librarian & #WritingCommunity too. It’d be awesome if the same happened w Bsky’s #BrainInjury & #MondayBlogs communities. The TBI feed I created already has various types of posts from personal to scientific.
It’s noticeable, in a terrible way, how Canadian media and journalists prefer to stick with Tw tho the experience is troll-ridden, while American media, journalists, and experts fill Bluesky. I’d like to see more Canada on Bsky! TVO & a very few male journos are the exception.
I’m also staying on LinkedIn tho its algorithm defies any logic whatsoever! But at least I don’t get spammed in the eye when I go there. Going from there and Bsky to here makes me realize how vile T&F are and how fun, fascinating, educational Bsky is. Please join me!
https://bsky.app/profile/shireenj.bsky.social
It’s a sad day saying bye to what I loved. But time to let go and stop contributing to the anti-social zeitgeist of greed, fear-mongering, hatred, divisiveness of humanity just bc my corner is OK & instead be part of building a platform that creates trust and social media.
P.S. My follower count on Bluesky is miniscule compared to Twitter and Facebook, but the engagement is exponentially greater! That’s the power of sociable social media!! (Others — influencers and experts — have analyzed their stats and engagement and found the same.)
Posted thread on leaving Twitter and Facebook to Twitter and Facebook on afternoon of 17 June 2024.
