Seth Godin with the reminder that you can’t always have the good without the bad.

Sharing Apple News Links

I get Apple News+ with my Apple One bundle and I actually use it frequently on my Mac. My local newspaper, The State, in included in News+ and I can read articles that are normally behind a paywall. Once I’m there, I tend to find other things to read and share. But sharing Apple News story links on social media isn’t always helpful since it obscures the real URL behind a redirect.

On a Mac, it’s easy to share the original URL. Click the share button in the upper right hand corner of the interface, and choose Safari. It opens the original article on the web and you can then share that URL instead of a link to Apple News.

On the iPhone, it’s not as simple. Click the ellipses in the upper right and select Share Story. Then from the list of apps that appears, select Safari. (You may need to click More and scroll down to find it.) The result is the same as the Mac, a new Safari window with the original URL.

Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.

After watching this week’s Strange New Worlds, I went back and watched Amok Time. They’ve really done a nice job of building a Spock/T’Pring/Chapel backstory that adds depth to The Original Series episode. 🖖

Signed my oldest up for her college move-in time. Now headed to the Apple Store to get her a computer. It’s getting real.

Vampire cat.

Black and white cat yawning, fangs exposed.

I’ve had this small task hovering over my head for about a week. Finally sat down this morning and knocked it out in about 30 minutes. Someday, I’ll learn to just make some time each day to knock out the small stuff.

Insomnia is kicking my ass tonight. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

According to Facebook Memories, 12 years ago, people were asking me for Google+ invites. Just a reminder that initial hype doesn’t translate into long term success.

Threads arrival shows social media is fragmenting like traditional media did - The Washington Post

Social media has now splintered in the same way the traditional media did, with unclear long-term effects.

Billboard companies always give me PSD (Photoshop) templates and I don’t understand that at all. Who builds billboards in Photoshop?

Predictably, the mass media narrative about Instagram Threads is 100% Twitter vs. Threads and Elon vs. Zuckerberg. Mastodon, Bluesky, ActivityPub and Fediverse only rarely appear in news articles.

Just plotted out a walking loop inside our new office building. It’s too hot right now to walk outside at lunch.

So there are lots of rough edges on Threads, and it’s owned by Meta, which is problematic. But their killer feature is audience. I’ve been in for about 12 hours and I see lots of people I know. Will they stay? No idea. But it’s off to a solid start.

So I got access to Bluesky about 5 minutes after I started a Threads account. Lots to like about both, and I think they could both turn into solid Twitter alternatives. But I’m still happiest here on Micro.Blog.

The Instagram Threads launch and media effects theory

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.1

Everyone teaches this a little differently, but this is how I like to think about it. As I look at how the media covers Instagram’s Thread, I think it’s worth thinking about the coverage in these terms.

Agenda Setting

The media is very good and setting the “agenda” for what people are thinking about. If the media you watch or read is covering a topic, you are more likely to care about the topic.

We know that the tech media like The Verge have picked up the thread and predictably, tech circles online are discussing what Instagram Threads will mean for social media and the Fediverse. This is agenda setting in action.

But will the mass media cover it? Will the CNN website run a story about Instagram Threads? Will The NY Times run an explainer about how to use Threads? Will South-Carolina-native and all-around good guy Craig Melvin talk about Threads on the Today Show? I don’t know.

While “agenda setting” sounds a little nefarious, it isn’t always. There are many factors that go into story selection. One major challenge right now is the crowded media environment. Take a look at the front pages of major news websites and what do you see? Supreme Court rulings. Mass shootings. Russia’s mutiny. Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Trump’s indictments. Protests in France. The U.S. relationship with China. Interest rates. Inflation. These topics all compete for space and time in a news organization. Does the introduction of a new service from Meta really rank up there in importance with these other topics?

News media also pay attention to metrics about their readership. If viewers are reading stories about Threads, editors will assign more stories. If people aren’t interested in the topic, it will fade. There seems to be general interest in the Elon Musk’s mismanagement of Twitter and his rivalry with Mark Zuckerberg. If people are reading the stories about Threads, maybe Meta does get a little more coverage than something like this would normally merit.2

Honestly, I’ll know if there is mass media coverage when my wife asks me what I think about it.

Framing

The next level relates to how the stories are positioned. We know that tech media is framing the release of Instagram Threads as the latest change in a rapidly changing social media world. The stories right now seem to be largely framed as a contrast with existing Twitter alternatives, especially given the conversations within Mastodon admins about whether to preemptively block access to a service that may support ActivityPub.

But for a mass media audience, that’s all too nuanced. Given the high profile implosion of Twitter, and the bravado between Musk and Zuckerberg, I think pretty much every story is going to frame Instagram Threads as a Twitter-killer. I do imagine that they’ll at least mention Mastodon and Bluesky. Beyond that, who knows.

Priming

If the mass media covers the introduction of Threads – and the framing is positive – the coverage may be enough to prompt people to sign up for accounts. This priming effect is typically short-lived, but if Meta is able to get a lot of news coverage, there may be a surge in sign ups not too dissimilar to the surge in interest surrounding Mastodon and Bluesky. This won’t necessarily translate into engaged customers, but getting people to download the app and try the service is the first hurdle for Meta.

So as you look at the media coverage surrounding the launch of Instagram Threads, think about it in terms of agenda setting, framing and priming. (And actually, as you look at media bias in general, these three concepts are helpful in understanding how it works and why it happens.)

Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.

  1. I’ve massively simplified things, so if one of my professors sees this… I’m sorry. ↩︎

  2. Unlike Twitter, Facebook actually has a public relations team. They should be able to round up some significant coverage. ↩︎

I don’t know much about how wine is made, but after reading Maggie Harrison’s War on Wine, I’m fascinated with the whole process…

This article on the The Verge about the changing social media environment resonated with me.

You could argue, I suppose, that this is just the natural end of a specific part of the internet. We spent the last two decades answering a question — what would happen if you put everyone on the planet into a room and let them all talk to each other? — and now we’re moving onto the next one. It might be better this way. But the way it has all changed, and the speed with which it has happened, has left an everybody-sized hole in the internet.

Three questions ahead of the release of Instagram's Threads

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:

  1. Will Instagram users actually adopt it? This is the big question. Will the people I follow on Instagram start accounts? And will they post content that I’m interested in? What will the demographics of the user base be? So many question about what this audience might look like.

  2. How will the ActivityPub implementation work? As a devoted Micro.Blog user, I’m interested in the rumored ActivityPub integration. Will I be able to follow Threads users on Micro.Blog? Can I cross post from Micro.Blog? As the first mainstream ActivityPub implementation, it will be interesting to see how they connect with the larger Fediverse.

  3. What’s the media narrative? It’s guaranteed that there will be a direct contrast with the dumpster fire that Twitter has become, but what other media narratives will take shape. How will it be compared to Mastodon and Bluesky? Will media coverage increase consumer knowledge about the ActivityPub? Sounds like a research paper for grad school.

I’ll probably sign up for an account, since Instagram is pretty much the only social media I use other than Micro.Blog. And we’ll see what happens.

Bob Wertz is a creative director, type designer, Ph.D. student and researcher living in Columbia, South Carolina.

My son lost his AirPods a few weeks ago. (These were my first generation AirPods that I replaced when I got AirPods Pro.) Today he found them in their case in a neighbor’s yard. These AirPods have been sitting exposed to extreme heat and rain for 2+ weeks, and guess what? Somehow, they still work.

Walking across campus today and saw South Carolina Women’s Basketball Coach Dawn Staley and her dog, Champ. Funny thing is, Champ came around the corner first and I recognized him instantly…