John_Whittemore on Nostr: I’ve been on Twitter for years and sadly that place has gradually transformed from ...
I’ve been on Twitter for years and sadly that place has gradually transformed from a beautiful meeting place to share ideas into a cesspool of shrill politics, ads, and pushing viral content.
In 2015 I posted “Literary twitter is the new Paris in the 1920’s” because that’s exactly how certain parts of Twitter felt in the early teens. It was a meeting place for artists and thinkers. I made friends all around the world. We exchanged writing and ideas. We even sometimes met up for art, conversations, and adventures.
Then in 2016 Trump was elected and Twitter felt more like occupied Paris. Twitter became all rage and attack and counter-attack of political opinions that took no prisoners and considered no nuance. Then Elon and more of the same. Advertising and sticky viral content were shoved into our timelines.
There are holdouts of great writers and thinkers who are still resisting dutifully, but the communal feeling of Twitter is dead. I still post on Twitter more out of loyalty to what it once was, than because I enjoy it. I haven’t made a new friend on Twitter in years.
So I’m immigrating. Nostr seems promising. No company has the ability to hijack the experience and destroy an online community for the sake of their bottom line.
Right now Nostr is really only a tiny enclave of tech people, but it seems accessible enough that that the rest of us can migrate here.
So I’m going to start posting poetry, philosophy, photography and see if we can bring some of the artists and thinkers here. I’m not sure if this will work, but it’s better than moving to another site controlled by tech billionaires.
Welcome to the new world.
In 2015 I posted “Literary twitter is the new Paris in the 1920’s” because that’s exactly how certain parts of Twitter felt in the early teens. It was a meeting place for artists and thinkers. I made friends all around the world. We exchanged writing and ideas. We even sometimes met up for art, conversations, and adventures.
Then in 2016 Trump was elected and Twitter felt more like occupied Paris. Twitter became all rage and attack and counter-attack of political opinions that took no prisoners and considered no nuance. Then Elon and more of the same. Advertising and sticky viral content were shoved into our timelines.
There are holdouts of great writers and thinkers who are still resisting dutifully, but the communal feeling of Twitter is dead. I still post on Twitter more out of loyalty to what it once was, than because I enjoy it. I haven’t made a new friend on Twitter in years.
So I’m immigrating. Nostr seems promising. No company has the ability to hijack the experience and destroy an online community for the sake of their bottom line.
Right now Nostr is really only a tiny enclave of tech people, but it seems accessible enough that that the rest of us can migrate here.
So I’m going to start posting poetry, philosophy, photography and see if we can bring some of the artists and thinkers here. I’m not sure if this will work, but it’s better than moving to another site controlled by tech billionaires.
Welcome to the new world.