Pontificating on Social Media
I was on the fence on doing another fun media post like last week's yelling about Star Wars and the importance of "canon", but I had something I actually wanted to write about and get off my chest.
This week was a flurry on my Appalachia Cinema Preservation Society project, particularly that I launched Social Media accounts for it. (Links for those will be at the bottom in case you want to follow it anywhere). For the past... gosh... at least four years my only social media presence was on Mastodon (a niche microblogging network that is part of the ActivityPub - one popular, yet laughably incorrect way to describe it is to say it's like email), and in order to get ACPS represented elsewhere, I created new accounts on Facebook and Instagram. For about the last half-a-week I've been putzing around on those sites trying to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do on them.
The reason I originally left Facebook and Instagram was because of all the data collection and putting that stuff on sale. I resented it and didn't want to be on there. This was all before the idea that all this data collection would be fed into some machine learning black box to make the world worse. I returned in spite of those thoughts.
So why did I return?
I live in a rural portion of the US and a large portion of in person stores and events are all run through Facebook. In fact, the spouse has more often than not, learned about stuff like "why is the water out?" through the local Facebook groups rather than any official communication from the utility company or the city. So if I'm going to be promoting locally, I need a presence there (and for the sake of my marriage I'm not asking my spouse to do social media labor on my behalf). As for Instagram, apparently that's a hot bed for "retro" and "nostalgia" media influencers. If I want to be findable by them (and I really do) then I have to go to where they are.
While my Instagram account is solely used for ACPS, Facebook requires a personal account to run a page. And while I'm there, why not reconnect with old friends, right?
My strategy on Masto is close to how I treated old school Twitter - I lob a few jokes around and also talk about what's going on inside my head. I am super comfy there - I've found a community of cool dads that I call home and hang out with others that push my thinking. I've certainly made stronger connections with trans folks and other queer folks than I've made anywhere else, and I cherish it. Part of the reason I feel I can make strong connections and show my true self there is that there isn't a blessed corporation in site. The community of cool dads I call home? It's a server ran by a fellow dad somewhere in the US Northeast. Never met him. But I trust him a lot more than I'd ever trust a corporation. So I can say whatever.
And no ads in sight
In the land of Meta? Ads for days. On Facebook, I have to scroll forever to find content from a real person. The spouse let me in on the secret to "favorite" folks and they'll pop up first. But that's limited to 30 folks... and they're still fighting hard with ads in order to reach my eye holes. On Insta, I'm not even sure what I'm trying to do there yet, so I'm just making posts so that the account doesn't look abandoned - more setting it up to succeed.
And after a few days of working on each account, this was the result
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| A post from Masto where I joke about engagement being better there |
Okay, the explanation of the joke is that the Masto server I'm on artificially puts "666" followers as a joke. The real number at the time of this writing is 30 followers. I have a strict "do not boost my own posts" on both Masto and Facebook, and both for the same reason of "I don't want to be the annoying guy that boosts their own posts" (I used to be that guy). If folks want the content, they'll find it. But after just three days, I have barely any followers on Facebook and Insta (not surprising) and 30 on Masto (a little surprising). I also have a shocking amount of unprompted activity on Masto. Yeah, 28 of the followers on there are already mutuals on my main account - but 2 have organically found the account. All my Facebook and Insta followers are friends or family (or myself).
This does have a bit of an explanation though - I have a solid community that I've connected with from the last five years. I'm supportive of them and they're supportive back. A big part of that is the comfort we have because there's no one collecting our data.
I don't really know where I'm going with this post other than - I really appreciate the community I've found a place among in Masto. I'll be reposting this on Facebook, so if you made it this far and want help setting up a place on Masto, hit me up. I love talking about it!
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