Thinking about social media… the good and the bad.
1/24/26 • 2 min read
Different social media platforms varied in how they handled the inclusion of multiple inline links in a recent post, with Bluesky successfully displaying both links while Threads and Mastodon only showcased the first one.
1/10/26 • 2 min read
The warning signs were there. Ten years ago, I wrote my first Twitterless article, followed by part 2 in 2017, part 3 in 2022, a “final” chapter in 2023 and an epilogue in 2024.1 My initial concerns were about Twitter’s financial shape, but after Musk took over, I quickly realized the new service wasn’t going to be for me, closed my accounts, and moved on. With the latest news about X, the service formerly known as Twitter, I don’t understand how anyone still has an account.
Me: I can’t believe no one is talking about Clemson losing to Syracuse.
Also Me: I forgot that I blocked “Clemson” and “Dabo” in my social media apps so I didn’t have to listen to people talk about Clemson.
3/18/25 • 2 min read
Reflecting on Dave Winer’s post about the Writer’s Web.
2/4/25 • 4 min read
Tapestry is a new iOS app that functions as a unified feed reader, allowing users to integrate various social and RSS feeds without algorithms, while providing customization options for managing content visibility.
1/23/25 • 2 min read
In one of my early grad school classes, we had a conversation and some readings on parasocial relationships… mostly one-sided relationships you “build” with people that you watch on tv, listen to on the radio, or subscribe to their podcasts. We think we know these people. Maybe at some point we met them, but our real “relationship” is surface level. We might know their favorite athlete or actor, but have no idea what their spouse’s name is.
11/23/24 • 2 min read
The last two weeks has seen a surge in Bluesky usage. I’ve been on Bluesky a little since the early days. I liked the service, but I didn’t know any one there. That’s changed now and lots of friends are posting. That’s added a touch more complexity, so I figured I’d share how I’m handling my personal social media right now. I post everything to Micro.Blog. It shows up on bobwertz.
Pluralistic: You should be using an RSS reader:
RSS basically works like social media should work. Using RSS is a chance to visit a utopian future in which the platforms have no power, and all power is vested in publishers, who get to decide what to publish, and in readers, who have total control over what they read and how, without leaking any personal information through the simple act of reading.
Professionally, I feel like I need to maintain a LinkedIn profile. Also, I have no idea what to do with LinkedIn.
7/23/24 • 2 min read
Choosing our words carefully I wrote a blog post in early 2019, trying to make a distinction between “open” social platforms that thrived on interoperability compared to “captive” networks that trap you in their system. As an aside, I also noted the difference between “indie” social and “open” social and added this footnote: I recognize that the concept of an open social network from a large corporation might seem absurd in today’s environment, but you never know.
7/18/24 • 2 min read
The Sticker Mule email arrived in my inbox, but I didn’t see it at first. Instead, I saw the backlash on Threads. Here’s the thing, I knew the owner was conservative, but it didn’t really matter to me. I’d randomly order stickers (or keychains) whenever they had a great special. And they ran specials a lot. Many companies take stands on issues as a way to signal their values. But most of the time, those topics are carefully chosen to align with their customer beliefs.
7/3/24 • 2 min read
I wrote a post in 2016 asking how I would deal with the inevitable demise of Twitter. And followed up with posts in 2018, 2022 and 2023.1 In each of the post, one common refrain kept resurfacing. There is no equal for following a live event on Twitter. The last month or so, there have been several events in tech and sports that I would have followed closely on Twitter.
7/30/23 • 2 min read
When the exodus from Twitter first started last year, many tech-savvy people were moving to Mastodon and I wondered if brands would move their accounts to self hosted instances. After all, from a branding standpoint, @offical@starbucks.com is better than @starbucks@mastodon.social. At the end of that post, I posited that someone would come along with a service that handled the fediverse complexity for companies. That service is Threads. Lots of people have asked why Meta was interested in providing ActivityPub support.
7/25/23 • 3 min read
I’ve been preparing for Twitter’s demise for seven years, but I didn’t see ‘X’ coming. I’ve been preparing for the end of Twitter since 2016, when Twitter was struggling with some financial issues and the future was uncertain. I pondered what would happen of Twitter went away suddenly. 2016: Twitterless: Which got me thinking, what if we woke up one morning and Twitter was gone. Or more likely, what if Twitter changed so radically, that it was unusable?
7/23/23 • 2 min read
New social media outlets prove the viability of indie social. The invention of the printing press made mass media possible. Printing houses produced popular books and bibles, but they also spread the writing that powered the Reformation. Major newspapers became was the dominant media for decades, but there have always been community and independent newspapers. Self-publishing, indie music, art house films and college radio are all forms of independent media.
7/4/23 • 4 min read
Yesterday, I mentioned I was interested in the media narrative surrounding the introduction of Instagram Threads. I wanted to expand on what I’m looking for, and to do that, I need to start with some mass communications theory. I’m a Ph.D. student that mostly researches visual effects, but I’ve taken a few classes that look at how media effects work. There are levels to media effects, but essentially, you can break it into three types of effects.
7/3/23 • 2 min read
I looks like Meta will release their text-based, Instagram-branded Twitter competitor this week. Am I excited about Instagram Threads? Not really. I’m happy with the current state of my social media usage. Am I curious about it? Absolutely. We are in a fascinating period of change in the services we use online and the ways we share information. Specifically, I’m interested in three questions: Will Instagram users actually adopt it?
12/1/22 • 1 min read
Self-hosted social There’s lots of hype about Mastodon as people flee Twitter, but lately, I’ve been thinking about how brands will function on federated social sites. If the big brands in the world are going to give Mastodon a shot, they aren’t going to just join an existing instance… they’ll host their own server for all of their related accounts. Let’s say you are a large international brand like Starbucks. Are you going to use @starbucks@mastodon.
11/20/22 • 2 min read
Content is more important than commentary. When the internet was becoming popular, I remember being told that traditional media was just broadcasting. The internet promised more than just broadcasting, it offered “engagement.” Don’t let people fool you. Engagement happened before the internet. People read the newspaper and talked about stories with their family and friends. They watched the evening news and discussed it at the water cooler at work the next day.
11/6/22 • 1 min read
One thing that Twitter excels at — which will be difficult to replace — is commentary during live events. Last night, I was able to follow a range of commentary on several college football games and the World Series all from my Twitter feed. It’s not just who I follow, it’s also the way the service is constructed. When following a bunch of live events, you need to use the non-algorithmic timeline.
1/3/18 • 7 min read
A year ago, I decided to lessen my reliance on Twitter. Here’s my progress so far… This post was originally posted on January 3, 2018 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site. A little over a year ago, I wrote a blog post pondering what would change in my workflow if Twitter disappeared. At the time, Twitter was actively looking for buyers and had just shut down Vine.
1/20/17 • 3 min read
This post was originally posted on January 20, 2017 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site. – Manton Reece has big plans for microblogs. A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about what would happen if Twitter disappeared or became unusable. I started to explore other options for connecting with others in the design community.
11/9/16 • 4 min read
What would happen if Twitter disappeared tomorrow? This post was originally posted on November 9, 2016 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site. I’ve been on Twitter since 2007. It’s part of my daily routine and probably my most vital social media channel for finding and sharing news. But Twitter has had some lingering financial issues and when they recently tried to sell the company, no one stepped up to make an appropriate offer.
11/12/09 • 3 min read
This post was originally posted on November 12, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site. I went to Subway last week. I don’t typically eat at Subway, but there is one by my office and I didn’t have much time for lunch. As I walked in, on the door, there was a window cling encouraging me to order soup with a combo.