Entry tags:
"Social" Media
Lately it feels as if there's been a mad stampede of users out of G+. More and more people are falling head over heels in love with one or another alternate service, pulling up stakes, and heading for the horizon.
This troubles me. G+ users were an unusual community; more thoughtful than Facebook, and kinder than Reddit. You pretty much had to be an interesting person to stay there while the Facebook juggernaut rolled on.
I have to admit something: I had pretty much given up on social media for the last six months or so. Facebook had become intolerable to me, with its frenetic shallowness and judgmentalism. Reddit was simply toxic. I couldn't help but see social media as a hollow replacement for the real-world, long-term social interaction that we as social animals have evolved to need: privatized, monetized, monitorable, and controllable. A roadblock to any chance of long-term human survival or a living decent human life.
But with the impending shutdown of Google Plus, I saw that people could actually work together online for a constructive purpose. That's a rare thing, and I value it. The thought of a community that can do that - and that cares enough to do that - being scattered to the winds makes me sad.
That's all I've got. I don't have an answer. Thanks for reading this.
This troubles me. G+ users were an unusual community; more thoughtful than Facebook, and kinder than Reddit. You pretty much had to be an interesting person to stay there while the Facebook juggernaut rolled on.
I have to admit something: I had pretty much given up on social media for the last six months or so. Facebook had become intolerable to me, with its frenetic shallowness and judgmentalism. Reddit was simply toxic. I couldn't help but see social media as a hollow replacement for the real-world, long-term social interaction that we as social animals have evolved to need: privatized, monetized, monitorable, and controllable. A roadblock to any chance of long-term human survival or a living decent human life.
But with the impending shutdown of Google Plus, I saw that people could actually work together online for a constructive purpose. That's a rare thing, and I value it. The thought of a community that can do that - and that cares enough to do that - being scattered to the winds makes me sad.
That's all I've got. I don't have an answer. Thanks for reading this.
no subject
I've also been spending a lot of time thinking about how the community of G+ has, for the last seven or so years, let me use it as a stand-in for attempting to actually create real community for myself in meatspace, and what that's been doing to me.
Greetings from Benjamin Russell
You may not remember me. I'm Benjamin Russell from Google+. My Dreamwidth account is at https://benjamin-russell.dreamwidth.org/ . These days, I've been championing Dreamwidth on the Google+ Mass Migration Community (see https://plus.google.com/communities/112164273001338979772), basically taking off from where you left off.
For lack of a better alternative, it seems that Dreamwidth might become my primary migration destination from Google+ for now. Basically, it all started with your recommendation of Dreamwidth.
Currently, I'm trying to link with former Google+ users here on Dreamwidth. This is the reason that I decided to post this comment in your circle.
Thank you for recommending Dreamwidth!