Social Media Escape Club
“The internet, as we have known it, has evolved from a quaint, quirky place to a social utopia, and then to an algorithmic reality. In this reality, the primary task of these platforms is not about idealism or even entertainment — it is about extracting as much revenue as possible from human vanity, avarice, and narcissism.”
Quick Links for Wednesday, January 3
find an offline way to engage with your community through events, conferences, local meetups, and other non-social media engagements because--despite how connected we are--word of mouth/personal referral is still the best way to get clients in any service industry.
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The internet and numbers and bots cannot and will not translate to real tangible communities. We get carried away by the fog that is the internet and its illusions, forgetting that there exists a physical, tangible reality, a reality that we must engage with.
"We can still build places rooted in clarity and care and connection. I just think that exists in real life. We can still build places that are transformative and more transformative than performative. If we don’t imagine something better and abandon the space, a future will be built for us digitally, completely without our consent, against our interests, and against our human nature. That is a digital pollution theory, you guys."
It is still shocking to admit that I no longer have any career ambitions. It didn ’t happen suddenly overnight, but instead creeped up on me until I realized that I just didn’t care anymore.
Jenna Park • My career ambitions have left the building
“The villain here is not necessarily the internet, or even the idea of social media,” she writes. “It is the invasive logic of commercial social media, and its financial incentive to keep us in a profitable state of anxiety, envy, and distraction.” The business model of platforms like this — which rely on advertising and clicks and “engagement”
... See moreJenny Odell • How to quit Facebook without quitting Facebook
How can I possibly sell art and “non necessities” during this time of great crisis? I try to remember that just as the world needs doctors and nurses and electricians and plumbers and farmers we need art.
Marketing in a Broken World
Nothing about the web has changed that prevents us from going back. If anything, it's become a lot easier. We can return.
Molly White • We can have a different web
Having a style collapses hundreds of future decisions into one, and gives you focus.