Who gives a Tweet? Not me anymore.

 

I have long had my reservations about Twitter. See:

•  Twying again, June 2009
• I killed my Twitter account, August 2009
• 10 useful Twitter alerts, July 2013
• Poster Power on Twitter, April 2014
• The 140 character discussion, June 2013
• Discussion via bumpersticker, December 2014

My major concern about the platform has always been how it discourages rational, nuanced discussions of important issues. To me, it seems as though we are trying to persuade others by shouting bumper sticker slogans back and forth.

Granted, I am not Twitter’s most avid user. I follow a whole 15 people, of whom only three or four post - and then seldomly. 6300 people follow me (who knew there were so many bored people in the world), mostly for the silly t-shirt sayings I sometimes share. I primarily use the platform to let readers know that I have written a new blog post by sending a link to it. I have a couple relatives who kindly “like” those tweets and a few others who retweet the t-shirt slogans. 

There will be few tears shed when I delete my account. 

Elon Musk's purchase and seemingly erratic control over the platform is the primary motivation for abandoning ship. It looks that by calling himself a “free speech” advocate, he will do little to control the spread of disinformation, racism, calls for violence, hate speech, and the radicalization of politics. While I too believe in free speech (my library school professors beat this into me), I also know free speech must be accompanied by responsibility and understanding of the harm speech may cause to others. If Elon’s revenue is based on the number of users on Twitter, my absence will make but a microscopic difference to this billionaire. But it is what I can do.

So after today, this old fart’s total social media presence is a Facebook account with both personal and Blue Skunk blog pages, a Feedly account tracking 31 blog feeds, a LinkedIn account browsed every week or so, and a Goodreads account. No Instagram. No Tik Tok. And of course no programs I am too out of the loop to even know about.

Been nice Tweeting to you.

Comments

[Maureen Pelensky]

Hi. I looked for Blue Skunk on Facebook. I found two but neither seems to be yours. Can you tell me how to follow you? Thanks

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Maureen,

Sorry it has taken a while to return your message.

Being the "owner" of the Blue Skunk Page on Facebook gives me, I believe, a different set of links to it. When I do a search on Blue Skunk Page (rather than blog), it seems to pop right up.

If I do a Google Search "Facebook Blue Skunk Blog" I get this link https://www.facebook.com/Blue-Skunk-Page-130430170339601/ which works when I copy and paste it into the search window of Chrome. 

Please let me know one of these solutions works for you.

Thanks,

Doug

[Tim Stahmer]

I've been on Twitter since 2007 and had been pretty active until the past couple of years. It was fun for a while but those days are past as the platform turned into a political tool rather than a social meeting place.

Right now, I'm playing with Mastodon as a possible alternative to Twitter but I've become very leery of any platform that's free so not putting in a lot of effort there. I'm also rethinking my whole reason for being on social media in the first place.

For the record, I enjoy your t-shirt tweets. But I'm afraid I won't be joining you on Facebook. Too many issues with their ethics as well. Fortunately, good old reliable RSS is still available, which is how I found this post. :)

[Doug Johnson]

Hi Tim,

I think you hit the nail on the head when you talk about why one is on social media in the first place. Personally, it's a way for me to stay in touch with relatives and good friends (like you). I can get my political information from more rational sources.

Nice to see you writing again on Assorted Stuff. The info about a possible merger between ISTE and ASCD is interesting. I served on the ISTE board for four years - along with a few business reps - and I agree the organization became a big tool for selling products. I also wrote a tech column for a couple years for ASCD. In some ways, I can see ISTE become a special interest group of ASCD. It would be good if the focus stayed on the pedagogical uses of tech. But I am happy to be retired and to let younger, brighter minds work this stuff out.

Keep up the photography!

Doug