Recently I added Instagram and Threads accounts for rubbercat.net/simpsons to complement the existing Facebook and Twitter accounts. Yes, Social Media Bad, but I think it’s worthwhile to maintain a toehold in these communities. Anyway here are my impressions of the current posting landscape.
Bluesky: This is my preferred Twitter alternative since a lot of my internet friends are there, but there are some baffling UI decisions. I made a feed called McWorld that will show you people around the world posting about McDonald’s. It’s mostly Japanese people posting pictures of their meals (you have to specifically allow other languages in your settings to see this) and it’s very pleasant.
Instagram: It seems very counter-intuitive to have an account for your website on a platform that doesn’t let you post links. It’s nice to keep up with Simpsons accounts, though. I’m not sure exactly what to post there.
Mastodon: I’ve switched instances, my current profile is @robbercat@indieweb.social. I don’t think I have enough #content in me to sustain 10 or so different websites so lately I’ve been using it as sort of a catch-all hub for stuff I’ve posted elsewhere (or POSSE, as the kids say). I’ve always dug its “Federated” feed versus the algorithmic feeds on other platforms that are designed to make you mad about some culture war bullshit.
Threads: I joined mostly to follow ThatGuy3002. I find it very user-hostile; there’s no apparent way to make “Following” your default view so I have to click on it (which is hidden by the logo) every single time, lest I be exposed to what Max Read calls the gas-leak social network. It’s nice that I can follow some Threads users via Mastodon but they have to opt in and if they’re nerdy enough to do that they probably already have a presence on the fediverse anyway.
Tumblr: There was a period a couple months ago where the CEO was acting like a little freak. Seems like they managed to tranquilize him? I don’t know.
Twitter: My current least favorite “feature” is that if you have multiple accounts you’ll occasionally see a notification dot on one of them, so you check it out and it’s just… a random tweet. Usually from someone you don’t follow referring to something you have zero context for, and there’s no apparent way to turn this shit off. The other month on my Simpsons account I was alerted to a racist tweet from Anthony Cumia. I don’t follow Cumia, I don’t think I follow anyone who follows Cumia, and yet there it is.