Social media started out as a novelty and became something that a good many people can't imagine living without. I use Twitter a lot. I love it. My wife is on Facebook and Instagram constantly, keeping in contact with family and friends, and for her business. My son spends so much time on Instagram and TikTok, that it's a wonder he gets anything else done.
Every platform has its issues. They are bad with privacy, or made some changes that suck, or are owned by The Devil™. Everyone has their preferred site, and trash talks the ones they don't like. Yes, I'm generalizing and exaggerating. It's fun. But, the fact remains that no site is perfect.
I'm on Twitter. I have been for over a decade. I love that site, I love the people I've met and connected with there. And now, all signs point to its inevitable demise. In my circles, the question of 'Where to Go Next' is being thrown around left and right. People say Mastadon is the place to go. Or Hive. Or… there are so many others, I can't keep them straight.
And, honestly, it is from lack of trying.
It's not that hard for me to pick up new technology and make it work for me. I grew up wanting to be a programmer for video games. I spent way too much money on programming and computing books, and spent many hours of my formative years immersed, trying to get a computer to follow my commands. It didn't make for a great childhood, but it gave me a base to understand quite a bit of how things work.
But, I don't want to. I found Twitter, I figured out how to use it. It was nice! I'm in love with the written word, and that's what Twitter did. Small chunks of words that I could read, share, comment on, etc. And, it was easy! Sign up, follow people, Tweet, and I was done.
So, I don't know where I will go if Twitter dies. Maybe nowhere? I have resurrected my Instagram and I'm playing around with that. But, the pressure to take photos of everything I do is already exhausting. If Twitter goes away, I may just retreat to my little corner of the internet, here, and on the sites where I'm selling my books.
The only bad thing, is that social media is pretty much required for self-published authors. That's how we advertise and find readers!
Maybe Twitter will suffer some growing pains and come out of this trial for the better? Let's hope for that.
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