I think I'm done with traditional social media. I'm one of the few people I know who never had a Facebook account. Well, in a moment of weakness last month, I decided to create an account for Marketplace and reselling. I used the account for a week, didn't post anything though, and just didn't like anything about it. Facebook actually gave me a really bad feeling, like I just shouldn't be there. It was really weird. By the end of the week, I deactivated the account. It just didn't seem worth it and I felt like a sell-out.
The truly strange part was how wrong it felt. I tend to trust my instincts and my instincts told me to get the hell out of there! That's really strange to me. I've never received those sorts of vibes from a social platform or anything internet related.
I know some people love Facebook for sharing family photos and keeping in contact with loved ones. It's a great platform for long-distance friends and relatives. There's certainly nothing wrong with that and I totally get it. I really think these social media companies are getting way to powerful though and I'm more than a little concerned about their ability to control narratives and select what we may or may not see. How anyone abides by that, is incredibly alarming to me.
My one Facebook post read, "Here for Marketplace if we haven't talked in 20-something years, let's keep it that way."
It's a bit cold but truthful. There are very few people from my past I wish to reconnect with. On top of that, I found all kinds of weird stipulations for using Marketplace. I'll stick with Craigslist. I hope it never gets to a point where we have to have one of these social accounts to buy and sell online.
Last night, I decided to deactivate my Twitter account. For some reason, I thought you could delete the account when Jack ran the company. Now that Elon took over, I only saw an option to deactivate the account. Is anyone else getting the feeling like these are nothing more than government spy programs? Why can't I delete my data? Pretty sure Facebook is the same way.
I've had a love-hate relationship with Twitter for a really long time. It was really my first mainstream social media app. The only reason I signed up was for Crypto Twitter. I instantly fell in love with the community. Plus there was a ton of good trading information on there back in 2013 up until around 2017. I think after 2018, the growth of the crypto community brought with it a ton of scammers, bots, and shady people.
The weird thing was that with over 43K followers I've interacted with the same 10 or 15 people for the last couple of years. Rarely would I get a comment or reply from anyone new. My follower counts also hovered between 42K and 45K followers. A couple of times during crypto hype cycles, the account grew to just UNDER 50K. I found that really weird. The account would come super close to 50K then suddenly lose 5K to 10K followers. This kept happening from the start as the account grew in popularity. Definitely strange, and far too coincidental.
The Final Straw
So I quit Twitter several times over the last couple of months. Each time, I'd just check back in when there was something happening in the crypto market. I really use it as a source of crypto news and a way to gauge market sentiment. I'd end up striking up a conversation or two, laugh at a few memes, and start using it daily again. Then get pissed off by all the propaganda in my feed and quit again. Only to return in the next week or so and repeat the entire cycle over again.
Last night, like much of America, I watched Donald Trump give his speech after his indictment hearing or whatever it was. Just shameful, this is going to be a post for another day, probably tomorrow. After his speech, however, I decided to log into Twitter to see what other people thought. I should state right now, I'm an anarchist, I don't really believe in government but politics affect us all and I do like to stay current and up-to-date on things. My point is, I'm NO Trump lover. I think the guy is a bafoon and really bad for our country. He's his own worst enemy, and even if he could be a good president they just won't allow him to succeed. My feelings for Trump aside, I logged into Twitter to see how others felt about the speech. I'll post my thoughts on his indictment tomorrow.
When I logged into Twitter I was shocked to see EVERY SINGLE POST being anti-Trump. Pro arrest. There was one post the algo missed that talked about what a dangerous precedent this was setting. ONE POST... Everything else was extremely negative, nothing positive, and just a massive echo chamber.
Seriously, I wasn't looking for people to agree or disagree with my opinions and thoughts. What I was looking for was a balance of opinions. Twitter was a very PRO-MAGA platform for a really long time. Many of my followers were MAGA people. Maybe they all left the platform, I can't say, I rarely use Twitter for politics. I do know the last time I checked Twitter for politics it wasn't anywhere near as one-sided as what I witnessed last night.
Keep in mind, this is the front-runner for the Republican party. He still has a ton of supporters in this country. What bothered me, wasn't all the negativity but the fact that there was nothing else. This just isn't possible. It was at that moment that I said, "I'm done" and then went into settings and clicked the deactivate button. It wasn't about the stance, it was about everyone having THE EXACT SAME STANCE in the thread I was looking at and no alternative points of view AT ALL. Not what I signed up for. NOT TO MENTION, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!
Danger
So many people rely on social media for news and to keep current. I have a huge problem with censorship and an even bigger problem with propaganda, data manipulation, and narrative manipulation. The idea that a social media company can control the narrative is outrageous to me. The idea that some people are OK with this is even more horrifying. I can no longer participate. In some ways, I think the manipulation of Covid posts was a test run for future narrative control and censorship.
Covid was actually when I first realized how manipulated narratives were on social media sites. Until then, I assumed it was all conspiracy theories. I just can't participate anymore. I really hope everyone comes to their senses soon and walks away from these social platforms. They farm our data, spy on us, share it with governments around the world, and sell the data to the highest bidders for profit.
The irony is, it looks like people will soon begin paying for the privilege of having their data and political narratives manipulated for them. I don't get it... We have alternatives like Hive that allow us to speak freely. Instead of selling our data, we're rewarded in crypto. Yet, people would rather pay a faceless corporation owned by one of the world's wealthiest men, rather than post somewhere that rewards them for their content and allows them to say pretty much whatever they want.
I'm never going to understand the current times we're living in. I have an Instagram page for my Tarot site. Besides that, I think I'm done with Youtube too. I'm going to try and focus entirely on Hive-centric social media like #SoMee, #DBuzz, #LeoThreads, and Peakd.
It's time to walk away from these mainstream social manipulators. Frankly, I think they're doing way more harm than good!