Bob Wertz

Preparing for a future without Twitter.

I’ve been preparing for the demise of Twitter since long before Elon Musk made the offer to purchase it. In 2016, I wrote a post — Twitterless — about what would happen if Twitter “disappeared tomorrow.” I outlined a couple of key areas that would be problematic for me and possible solutions.

A year and a half later, I wrote a follow up post — Twitterless, Part II — that noted my progress on replacing the role Twitter plays for me, and the challenges that still existed.

Times are changing, though, and I honestly believe that we all need to be diversifying — and if possible, owning — our social media presence. Becoming less reliant on the big social media behemoths is the first step.

I ended that post with a promise to follow up on my progress, but as Facebook became more and more...

I’m trying to create a new habit of using Micro.Blog instead of Twitter. I’m trying to post daily… but I have crossposting turned on so it looks like I’m using Twitter more than ever.

27 years ago, we had our first date. Celebrating with a drink at Craft and Draft in Irmo.

Getting work done at Starbucks this morning.

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. Twitter still, begrudgingly, allows for that. Facebook has many of the people I follow on Twitter, but the comments are jumbled, appearing whenever the algorithm decides, often incoherently out of order. And I can’t see following my South Carolina Gamecocks on another large service, like Linked In. 🤣

Perhaps the real question is if I need the stream of commentary at all? I get value out of live commentary from sports journalists and other fans. I feel like it ads...

I’ve spent a little time today working on my Micro.Blog setup. I customized the CSS on bobwertz.com. Now, I’m dusting off the Ulysses integration. I need to add a couple more things to the site, but I’m happy with how it’s coming together.

I know lots of people are jumping to Mastodon, but Micro.Blog has always been my Twitter implosion backup plan. Great service and community. Lets me cross post to Twitter if I want to. I love the concept of using RSS (or JSON Feed) as the foundation of an open social network.

My 17-year-old is telling our 10-year-old about an old technology from her childhood… cable television.

Semester has started and I’m working at the coffee shop on some homework.

Just introduced my children to the Blues Brothers.