The Dizzying Media Landscape

How many of you have joined the new social media site from Instagram called Threads? I downloaded the app yesterday.

Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, I joined a number of similar apps looking for an alternative. Among them Post, BlueSky, Sproutable, Mastadon, Notes, and I think another one I have forgotten about. They seem fine, but, except for Notes, I don’t use them much. The new apps have a lot to do to catchup to Twitter’s influence, but maybe since Threads is part of Instagram, it will be more successful. Part of the success of these things depends on a groundswell of people using it. It’s all about shared experience. I was just bemoaning that my in-real-time live-drawing might not continue if Twitter keeps tanking; however if Threads works, I am hopeful I can continue doing that kind of visual reporting there.

Speaking of Twitter, this morning I read this piece by Heather Cox Richardson, and in it she wrote about the Republican Party Offical Twitter posting a flag with one star on the Fourth of July. I went to Twitter and it had been deleted. But while there, I scrolled down a bit and was absolutely horrified. I mean, I should know this, but I didn’t. 99% of the tweets were negative attacks at Democrats, and specific Democrats, and they were all lies. If you want to get depressed, go do what I did and see for yourself.