As of this morning, I have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Instagram and Bluesky as well as an account on TikTok that I rarely, if ever, look at, and also a Substack presence for diabetes-related stuff. The sudden proliferation (Mastodon, Threads and Bluesky particularly) is to try to fit out a lifeboat for when Twitter goes under and also to open channels to promote my books. I may be doing the socials wrong, but I haven’t noticed a particular upswing in sales as a result of engagement on social media – maybe one or two copies at best – so it’s a questionable strategy.
Impressions:
Facebook is great for family photos. Twitter is great for focused lists. Mastodon is for people who find accountancy a bit racy and would probably ban me from their server for saying so. Substack Notes is full of writers trying to turn a coin or two, mostly from each other. Threads is a bit of a nothing. Bluesky is potentially more interesting – I like the interface – but is still invitation only and thus busy creating and reinforcing bubbles and echo chambers. All of the new sites currently skew towards always-online Americans who post bad takes about politics and culture wars.
I stick with Twitter for the most part, because of the ability to create and use lists for focused analysis and breaking news. For me, the first of the alternatives that attracts a critical mass of users and lets me put together lists of users that I don’t also have to ‘follow’ will likely be my new home.
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Star Trek: Strange New Worlds finished on a cliffhanger made more dramatic by the writers and actors strikes that delay the resolution by another year. Subspace Rhapsody is still under my skin, and my liking of it has been amplified by the reaction of the fanboys whose world view has been challenged. In other viewing:
Foundation is back for season 2 and is going nowhere.
Invasion is also back for season 2. It was slow and methodical in its storytelling in season 1 by design and I liked it a lot. S2 has had a promising start.
Ahsoka is with us and … I’m reserving judgement. I was surprised by how slow the pacing was, and not in a good way. It helps if you’ve watched previous animated series by Dave Filoni, especially Star Wars: Rebels.
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I posted this on the socials a while ago but not here. This is a boost for the soul while writing and looking at book sales that can charitably be described as sluggish. Ethan comments that to express yourself you first have to know yourself. I’d caveat that by saying that expressing yourself in writing or the other arts is a way of getting to know yourself. The two are intertwined.
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