I find Notes too “serious” to replace the spontaneous vibe of Twitter and the others. Much (most?) of Twitter’s vibe, besides being toxic, isn’t at all spontaneous, it’s scripted.
I’m trying threads. But I think it’ll flash and flame out, go to a slow ember that is Facebook and Instagram. The tech to replicate twitter is super super simple. What is hard to impossible to replicate is proximity to power. Journalism and politics embraced twitter early on, entertainment after that. That’s basically the trifecta you need to create that neuro-network. Twitter acts like a huge spinal cord to the peripheral nervous system — well, it did. Jack understood that; Elmo and Zuck don’t. Not one damn clue.
Notes is just something else. It’s more like a salon or a gathering in the park. It’s smart; it aspires; it is curious... it’s fun because of those things. Unlike twitter, though, it doesn’t reward dumb. Can’t be proud of your ignorance on Notes.
Twitter gave me a lot of fun 2007-2020 where I played a few different characters linked to television stuff. I’m done doing that; it’s exhausting. Gonna take a little break from the acting and just be me for a while. We’ll see how that goes.
Interesting analysis and I agree. Twitter had an edge but it was so fun, I learned a lot and made great friends there. Got many good jobs. The trifecta you mention is so true. We may not be able to get that back, certainly not in the same ziegeist.
😁 ... not out in public. The mystery and magic of the character is that it is sentient and not just a puppet ... it was just a lot of fun and I met interesting people! Someday, perhaps.
I’m on Threads and right now it has the feel of original Twitter - true engagement and conversation with real people. It probably helps that it allowed me to immediately follow all my Instagram connections. Since these are folks I enjoy hearing from, it made my initial Threads interaction feel like “home.” I look forward to seeing you there and perhaps things will continue positively. 🤞
Let us know how you like Threads. Good name. It could take a couple years to reach Twitter's level of user friendliness and mass familiarity. I'm liking Notes too. Better every day.
Maybe do a drawing for us after a week on Threads??
Sorry to be Debbie Downer here, but lies and misleading information are the new tools of parts of our government. The former president liked Russia for doing it to well-and it is how Putin came to power. Apparently it has caught on with that party. Unfortunately, we Americans have been too trusting of the media for too long, and now we are paying the price, with few people even trying to think for themselves and do their own search for the truth. One can only hope this emperor truly does have clothes.
I agree, the media is responsible for so much of this mess. But I also have read history (thanks to @HeatherCoxRichardson about how these kind of lies are so not new in politics. That's an understatement, of course. But the internet has amplified the lies, as has mainstream media.
Yea it is overwhelming - I just am trying to use my New England country boy intuition to sift stuff out w options and media .. - and yea a another platform is dizzying but I guess when up against a wall. Frankly I’m hot and lazy - so iDk . We’ll see .
As a vexillogilst, I was greatly amused by the knickers-in-a-twist outrage over the RNC’s little flag whoopsie. It reminded me of 2001, when the Barbara Kingsolvers of the world were wringing their hands over chauvinistic displays, as they saw them, of the Stars & Stripes. The flag erroneously hoisted by those dastardly Republicans happened to be the flag of the Republic of Liberia, which was consciously modeled on the US national flag. Obviously, this was just a careless mistake.
Much more egregious in my view was the disrespect shown to our flag at the White House during the recent Pride event. When the US National Flag is displayed with other flags, protocol dictates that it must occupy the honor point: to the viewer’s left (the flag’s own right), or in the center of a line of flags, slightly elevated. But at the White House on “Pride Day,” precedence was accorded to the LGBTQ & Etc. Flag: that multicolored mess that reminds one of nothing so much as a TV test pattern.
You may argue that such things don’t matter. But symbolism does matter, and symbols can be either inclusive or divisive. When you see the Stars & Stripes streaming in the breeze, which is it to you? And if the latter, with what would you replace it?
I am not a fan of flags. I am proud of what our country stands for in principle, but nationalistic displays are not my cup of tea. It's about doing the right things and helping people and democracy.
Your point about legacy media gatekeepers is spot on. Its why I am experimenting with serialising my novel on this platform. I've signed up to Threads with the understanding that, like Substack, its a wait and see endeavour. But you gotta be in to win. Right Liza?
Going to try Threads, though I was never on Twitter. Have also been enjoying Tribel as an alternative to Facebook & Twitter. Will look for you on Threads.
And have been following HCR since she began her Facebook Letters from an American. They have kept me sane over the last 7-8 years! Wish it was required reading for ALL American.
BTW She said today that she is going to Threads also. So we will all gather round the new campfire 😊
I long ago reached the conclusion that Twitter is our national—nay, international—rest room wall, the bulletin board on which all our worst and dumbest thoughts are posted. I still have an account, but I seldom visit Twitter these days and never post anything.
Substack Notes is more civilized, and I occasionally use it to share a thought or bon mot not worthy of a full article. But even there you run the risk of attracting some repulsive little troll. Usually they go away if ignored, but not always and then I have to block the so-and-so.
The judicial order restricting the Biden Administration's interactions with social media companies was justified by the judge on First Amendment grounds: He argued that under the guise of combatting "disinformation," the Administration and social media companies were colluding to suppress opinions and messages deemed to be false or misleading. (Cases involving criminal activity, terrorism and election interference are exempted from the order.) Not being a lawyer, I don't know if the judge's legal reasoning is sound. On general principle, however, I think that it's a really bad, no-good idea for the government to be silencing speech it doesn't like. As we were so forcibly reminded during the pandemic, in these degenerate days, government itself is a prime purveyor of disinformation.
It's a very difficult thing to figure out. I see so much disinformation on Twitter, as I said in my post. I am sure on both sides, but I see it more on the GOP side. But I have not done a survey! So that's just my opinion. The govt should not be censoring, but yet these kinds of lies shouldn't be allowed to be spread. We are entereing a new phase of how social media is used and percieved, that's for sure.
George Orwell put it this way: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." But most people nowadays don't believe that. They only want to hear what confirms their beliefs and worldview. So they hunker down in their own information silos, and if they do happen to hear something that displeases them, they'll brand it as a lie, disinformation, etc. and so forth.
We had many examples of this during the pandemic, e.g. the denunciation of the lab-leak hypothesis as crazy talk and anti-Chinese xenophobia. But it now appears probable that COVID-19 did indeed escape from that Chinese lab—though thanks to the opacity of the Chinese regime, we may never know for sure
One of the country's big problems today is distrust of institutions and the expert class, and that distrust has been fairly earned. Recently I wrote on my Substack about the problem of scientific fraud, which is far more common than you might think. It's been estimated that half—half!—of all published scientific studies are simply false.
So yes, it's indeed a difficult thing to figure out, now that the appeal to authority has lost its luster.
I find Notes too “serious” to replace the spontaneous vibe of Twitter and the others. Much (most?) of Twitter’s vibe, besides being toxic, isn’t at all spontaneous, it’s scripted.
I’m trying threads. But I think it’ll flash and flame out, go to a slow ember that is Facebook and Instagram. The tech to replicate twitter is super super simple. What is hard to impossible to replicate is proximity to power. Journalism and politics embraced twitter early on, entertainment after that. That’s basically the trifecta you need to create that neuro-network. Twitter acts like a huge spinal cord to the peripheral nervous system — well, it did. Jack understood that; Elmo and Zuck don’t. Not one damn clue.
Notes is just something else. It’s more like a salon or a gathering in the park. It’s smart; it aspires; it is curious... it’s fun because of those things. Unlike twitter, though, it doesn’t reward dumb. Can’t be proud of your ignorance on Notes.
Twitter gave me a lot of fun 2007-2020 where I played a few different characters linked to television stuff. I’m done doing that; it’s exhausting. Gonna take a little break from the acting and just be me for a while. We’ll see how that goes.
Oh... I’m me on threads, too. @gerardmclean everywhere... for a while, anyway.
Interesting analysis and I agree. Twitter had an edge but it was so fun, I learned a lot and made great friends there. Got many good jobs. The trifecta you mention is so true. We may not be able to get that back, certainly not in the same ziegeist.
You played characters on tv? Tell me more.
😁 ... not out in public. The mystery and magic of the character is that it is sentient and not just a puppet ... it was just a lot of fun and I met interesting people! Someday, perhaps.
I’m on Threads and right now it has the feel of original Twitter - true engagement and conversation with real people. It probably helps that it allowed me to immediately follow all my Instagram connections. Since these are folks I enjoy hearing from, it made my initial Threads interaction feel like “home.” I look forward to seeing you there and perhaps things will continue positively. 🤞
Hear! Hear!
Thanks Joyce. We probablya lready follow each other there. DO you know if Threads is usable on a laptop yet? I couldn't find it
Agree across the board on this, Liza.
Let us know how you like Threads. Good name. It could take a couple years to reach Twitter's level of user friendliness and mass familiarity. I'm liking Notes too. Better every day.
Maybe do a drawing for us after a week on Threads??
I will keep that in mind, good idea!
Sorry to be Debbie Downer here, but lies and misleading information are the new tools of parts of our government. The former president liked Russia for doing it to well-and it is how Putin came to power. Apparently it has caught on with that party. Unfortunately, we Americans have been too trusting of the media for too long, and now we are paying the price, with few people even trying to think for themselves and do their own search for the truth. One can only hope this emperor truly does have clothes.
I agree, the media is responsible for so much of this mess. But I also have read history (thanks to @HeatherCoxRichardson about how these kind of lies are so not new in politics. That's an understatement, of course. But the internet has amplified the lies, as has mainstream media.
Heather Richardson and Dan Rather are the only people I rely on to deliver the facts about the political realities in this country right now!
THey're terrific. I subscribe to both, don't read Dan's often, but with your recommendation I will!
Yea it is overwhelming - I just am trying to use my New England country boy intuition to sift stuff out w options and media .. - and yea a another platform is dizzying but I guess when up against a wall. Frankly I’m hot and lazy - so iDk . We’ll see .
As a vexillogilst, I was greatly amused by the knickers-in-a-twist outrage over the RNC’s little flag whoopsie. It reminded me of 2001, when the Barbara Kingsolvers of the world were wringing their hands over chauvinistic displays, as they saw them, of the Stars & Stripes. The flag erroneously hoisted by those dastardly Republicans happened to be the flag of the Republic of Liberia, which was consciously modeled on the US national flag. Obviously, this was just a careless mistake.
Much more egregious in my view was the disrespect shown to our flag at the White House during the recent Pride event. When the US National Flag is displayed with other flags, protocol dictates that it must occupy the honor point: to the viewer’s left (the flag’s own right), or in the center of a line of flags, slightly elevated. But at the White House on “Pride Day,” precedence was accorded to the LGBTQ & Etc. Flag: that multicolored mess that reminds one of nothing so much as a TV test pattern.
You may argue that such things don’t matter. But symbolism does matter, and symbols can be either inclusive or divisive. When you see the Stars & Stripes streaming in the breeze, which is it to you? And if the latter, with what would you replace it?
I am not a fan of flags. I am proud of what our country stands for in principle, but nationalistic displays are not my cup of tea. It's about doing the right things and helping people and democracy.
Your point about legacy media gatekeepers is spot on. Its why I am experimenting with serialising my novel on this platform. I've signed up to Threads with the understanding that, like Substack, its a wait and see endeavour. But you gotta be in to win. Right Liza?
My feeling exactly!
and good for you to serialize your novel here, that's exciting!
Thank you!
Going to try Threads, though I was never on Twitter. Have also been enjoying Tribel as an alternative to Facebook & Twitter. Will look for you on Threads.
And have been following HCR since she began her Facebook Letters from an American. They have kept me sane over the last 7-8 years! Wish it was required reading for ALL American.
BTW She said today that she is going to Threads also. So we will all gather round the new campfire 😊
haha! Gather around the campfire. Which campfire shall we go to first?
I long ago reached the conclusion that Twitter is our national—nay, international—rest room wall, the bulletin board on which all our worst and dumbest thoughts are posted. I still have an account, but I seldom visit Twitter these days and never post anything.
Substack Notes is more civilized, and I occasionally use it to share a thought or bon mot not worthy of a full article. But even there you run the risk of attracting some repulsive little troll. Usually they go away if ignored, but not always and then I have to block the so-and-so.
The judicial order restricting the Biden Administration's interactions with social media companies was justified by the judge on First Amendment grounds: He argued that under the guise of combatting "disinformation," the Administration and social media companies were colluding to suppress opinions and messages deemed to be false or misleading. (Cases involving criminal activity, terrorism and election interference are exempted from the order.) Not being a lawyer, I don't know if the judge's legal reasoning is sound. On general principle, however, I think that it's a really bad, no-good idea for the government to be silencing speech it doesn't like. As we were so forcibly reminded during the pandemic, in these degenerate days, government itself is a prime purveyor of disinformation.
It's a very difficult thing to figure out. I see so much disinformation on Twitter, as I said in my post. I am sure on both sides, but I see it more on the GOP side. But I have not done a survey! So that's just my opinion. The govt should not be censoring, but yet these kinds of lies shouldn't be allowed to be spread. We are entereing a new phase of how social media is used and percieved, that's for sure.
George Orwell put it this way: "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear." But most people nowadays don't believe that. They only want to hear what confirms their beliefs and worldview. So they hunker down in their own information silos, and if they do happen to hear something that displeases them, they'll brand it as a lie, disinformation, etc. and so forth.
We had many examples of this during the pandemic, e.g. the denunciation of the lab-leak hypothesis as crazy talk and anti-Chinese xenophobia. But it now appears probable that COVID-19 did indeed escape from that Chinese lab—though thanks to the opacity of the Chinese regime, we may never know for sure
One of the country's big problems today is distrust of institutions and the expert class, and that distrust has been fairly earned. Recently I wrote on my Substack about the problem of scientific fraud, which is far more common than you might think. It's been estimated that half—half!—of all published scientific studies are simply false.
So yes, it's indeed a difficult thing to figure out, now that the appeal to authority has lost its luster.