Social? Or Not?

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You may recall that three weeks ago I posted a piece about my experience of Facebook taking down one of my posts, for allegedly breaching their rules: apparently I was making a misleading attempt at attracting likes and followers for my blog with that post. Having already had one post removed by them they also took that one down within ten minutes of my sharing it. Although I challenged both decisions they have neither done me the courtesy of a reply, or even an acknowledgement, and neither post has been reinstated.

This has got me thinking. I’ve always considered blogging to be the most social of social media, but like most bloggers I use some of the others to make people aware of what I’m doing: I have a Facebook page for the blog (link in the right hand column), share my posts on what used to be called Twitter, and although I have done nothing else there in years I still a link to share new posts on Tumblr, if you have heard of it. I’m not an influencer – far from it! – yet those are the people whose posts go out of their way to attract attention, so why are theirs allowed but mine aren’t? You don’t have to look around for the answer to that, do you? Obviously, the big tech sites make money out of those pathetic cretins but will never get rich off the views my posts attract. So why would they interfere with my meagre efforts?

After I wrote that piece many commented about similar experiences. At least I felt that I wasn’t alone, but it is a little scary that they exercise such control without seemingly any human involvement: the algorithms run by their bots don’t have a real brain, do they? My thoughts then went further, and I have been looking at social media in a more general way. There are the big players: X-Twitter and Facebook, who between them wield huge power in terms of what we see. X used to give us a feed of everything posted by those we follow, in chronological order, but these days I’m not so sure that still applies, and they seem much more inclined to force on us the latest inane ramblings of their owner (I muted him). Facebook has always just offered a selection: I am frequently surprised to see posts in my feed that are five or six days old, and I often visit my friends’ pages and find that they have shared things which just didn’t appear for me. Why? It can’t be that hard for them to just give us everything and let us filter what we want to see, can it?

I’ve also been reconsidering my use of these sites. I’ve been on Facebook since 2013, just before I retired, and created my page in 2018 when it stopped allowing direct posts to friends. That may have been a kind of advantage as I now have a potentially larger audience, not that viewing stats would show it! I joined Twitter in 2011, and for a few years used it a lot: there were a group of like-minded followers with whom I had some great ‘chats,’ and a lot of laughs along the way. But it soured, many of those moved away from it, and I only really use it now for posting links to my blog and for live score updates from my football teams when they are playing: the BBC and Sky don’t pay much attention to Leyton Orient or Dover Athletic! I started on Tumblr around the same time as a couple of friends were on it, and linked my blog to it, but they have moved on and I hardly ever visit it. Maybe I should!

The real problem for me is what Twitter has become since Moron Musk bought it, rebranded it as the meaningless X, and opened it up to racists, conspiracy theorists, extreme right wing views, and generally made it a hate-filled, unwelcoming place. A couple of days ago a good friend of mine from my work days announced that she was leaving the site, for the same reasons I have just given, and I have to say that I’m seriously thinking of doing the same. The only thing which is stopping me is those football updates!

But are there any alternatives? About eighteen months ago I set up an account on Threads, but have hardly used it. Maybe I’m wary of it being owned by Meta, who also own Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp? Will I find myself being censored there too – I use the others as well, so should I be paranoid about what they are watching and listening in on? I have seen several news reports in recent weeks for something called Bluesky, which is positioning itself as a friendlier alternative to X. Let’s face it, it couldn’t be any nastier, could it!

So I’ve decided to actually do something positive for once. It’s not that I don’t have time, is it, as I’m retired and can spend my days however I want. I looked into WP’s settings for blog post sharing, and they have automatic links that you can set up for both Threads and Bluesky. Maybe time for a test, methinks. So I linked this to Threads and have signed up to Bluesky and done the same there. They claim to have more than 13m users – small beer compared with the others, but they have reported many new accounts opening in recent months. I haven’t yet found many on there that I can follow, but in all honesty I only set it up yesterday and haven’t spent long playing with it, so time will tell. If there are feeds from those two football teams that would be another nail in the X coffin! This is the first post which I will be sharing across my new full set of Facebook, X, Threads, Tumblr, and Bluesky, and I’ll be interested to see what happens – if anything! I’ll keep you posted on what transpires, and if this survives another Facebook bot attack.

Do you use any or all of these to share your blog posts? If so, I’d be grateful if you’d share your thoughts in the comments about your experiences with them – are you thinking of leaving any of them, or joining new ones? And are there others I could try? Anyone who suggests Trump’s Lies Anti-Social will be taken out and tortured!

If you are on any of them do find and follow me there and I’ll do the same for you: the more the merrier!

74 thoughts on “Social? Or Not?”

  1. I joined Bluesky in November and Instagram a week, or so later. I guess I want to see what the IG fuss was about. It’s pretty shallow, but sometimes there are some funny memes. The IQ level on Bluesky is so far beyond that of Facebook, it makes my head spin. Most of the people on there are well-read and have a clue. Facebook is fast becoming the cesspool Craigslist was—and Craigslist wasn’t social media, so that’s pretty shameful. I’m thinking of moving my blog to WIX because I am not happy with JetPack. They ruined Reader. I agree that Twitter’s word limit was ridiculous. That’s one thing I don’t like about Bluesky. Well, good luck in your decisions.

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  2. Clive, the only platforms I use are Facebook and WordPress. I disliked X when it was still Twitter, only because one is limited on letters/words, and (probably because of this) the content was superficial at best, and inane or repulsive at worst. I plan to quit Facebook by the end of 2025 for numerous reasons, one of which is their Big Brother behavior that you iterated. Would love to axe Amazon, too, as they (or their AI) blacklisted my book reviews (long story).

    Things have gotten so far out of control, it’s mind-boggling. Brave New World and 1984 times twenty! (Sometimes I think I should move to the Tibetan mountains and become a monk.)

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  3. Hello. I enjoyed your blog post. I, too, have been accused of trying to garner likes and comments from posts I made on FB. FB is a joke. It is a poorly run company of people that have no experience dealing with people, human psychology, linguists, or culture. I stay on it because I have met some fruit wonderful people on the platform. I also use it to advertise my blog. I recently started an account on Bluesky. So far I like it a lot. Although I have found some evidence of bots infiltration. They are everywhere, unfortunately. I started posting links to my blog on that platform as well. I think Bluesky is going to be a successful enterprise. Pop by, if you want. I’m @sykelogy219.bsky.social.

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    • Judging from the response to this post I think there are many in the same boat!

      Thank you in advance for featuring it for SSPS – I’ll be there on Monday, as usual 😊

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  7. I like threads so far. It’s so positive over there. It’s a far cry from the app that used to be called Twitter! Haven’t been there long, so I have yet to figure everything out but so far so good. I haven’t been on fb in Ions, and instagram I haven’t gotten the swing of yet either although it’s not new to me 🤷🏽‍♀️

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    • I opened up Threads last year but only started doing anything with it recently. It seems much friendlier than X-Twitter, none of the hatred, lies and conspiracy theories. I’ve been on Instagram for ages but rarely post there now. The question I think I was asking myself in this post is whether I need any of them!

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  8. HI Clive, this is an interesting read. I had a post banned by FB a short while ago. Interestingly enough, it was a poem that I wrote for a challenge that asked for a cover of an old record album to be used for inspiration. I worked out that it was that link to the record album covers that caused the ban. For me, that is a once off type of post but it still annoyed me at the time. You are right about mindless bots and you can’t appeal to them in any sensible way. A lot of people are leaving X. I am still there currently and will stay until influences like Sally Cronin leave. I don’t think that any social media platforms I share too do much to boost my blog anyway so I focus mainly on blogging which is a much more entertaining social media platform from which I learn a lot and which I enjoy.

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    • Hi Robbie. Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it and am sorry to hear that you have suffered the bots’ wrath too. If you look through the comments you will find many others!

      There is no logic as to why they banned that post of yours, or mine, but as you say there is no one with a brain to hear our complaints.

      I may leave X too. Like you, it does little in finding readers for me and I’m really only staying there out of habit. It will be difficult to replace, though, at least until WordPress provide sharing links to the other sites – their selection is a bit lacking at present!

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  9. Ive seen a lot of people at the moment looking to reach out to new audiences and being concerened about the direction of twitter. I have not deleated my X account yet, but have just set up a bluesky account while reading your article. I think my account is @huwspace.bsky.social I do worry about how little time I will have on all these different sites but bluesky I will give it ago as a way of linking to my wordpress site too.

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    • I think there are huge numbers either leaving X or thinking about it. I was reading a piece in the paper earlier that compared the alternatives, which it saw as Threads, Bluesky and Mastodon. Bluesky has been putting on big numbers of late but is still tiny compared even with Threads, let alone X. I don’t want to do anything drastic without thinking it through, though.

      I’ll find you on Bluesky, and maybe you can add to my 6 followers there. I’ve linked my recent posts to both Threads and Bluesky but numbers are small. Then again, X has never done much in generating traffic for me.

      You’ve made me realise that I should have put my addresses into the post – I’ll update it in the morning when I’m not too dopey. My regular Tuesday post is ready to go so maybe I can put links in that too. You never know: we could become the next big things 🤣

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  10. I’m on Facebook and it is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of experience, but other than one or two people I’ve stopped following, generally worth staying on for me. But I’m increasingly uncomfortable with X and based on what I’ve been reading here, have just joined Bluesky, so I’ll be seeking you out Clive! I hope it stays a more kinder platform as it gets larger. And I can honestly say I’ve not had a bad experience on WordPress.

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    • Facebook has generally been ok for me too, until their bots started disliking my blog posts. Hopefully they have found another target now and will leave me alone. If any other post would have been taken down it would have been this one but it is still there.

      WP is the best for me. Early days still with Bluesky but I’ll look out for you too – my current 5 followers could do with another joining! I also do Threads, though not much yet there either.

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  11. I don’t think I’ve ever had any of my posts deleted, but then I’m not some crazy rap and disco loving British guy.

    I agree that X has become terrible, but I do like to use when I am watching a Philly sport team to see what people are saying. I also recently signed up for Bluesky. I’ll be sure to connect with you. (You might be my first!)

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    • Nor am I! Good that you haven’t met that fate though. The first one was a bit of a surprise but I suppose I was asking for trouble when I titled the second one ‘Farcebook Strikes’ 🤣

      They took that one down inside ten minutes but haven’t done it to me again. Yet…

      I am waiting for the day when my teams are all on Threads or Bluesky so I can dispense with X – it has become a horrible place in the past two years.

      I’m now up to 4 Bluesky followers so you’d be joining a small but perfectly formed group. I’ll look out for you.

      Good to see you again. Hope all’s well with you 😊

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      • Maybe you were subconsciously seeing how far you could go before they deleted one of your posts 🙂

        I’ve joined you on Bluesky, and now, thanks to you, I’ve got my first follower!

        All is well here; I hope the same with you!

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      • Nothing subconscious about it: it was deliberate!

        Thanks for the Bluesky follow and I’m glad to have been your first. I’m still not sure what to make of it though. Early days 😊

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  13. I find most social media sites terribly boring. Much of the content feels fake and disingenuous, like someone who is trying to pretend they are something they’re not.

    Blogging still remains my favorite choice to interact with people.

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  14. I joined Twitter ages ago, I haven’t left, but gave up looking as it seemed to be all retweets. I’m on Facebook , so are my family, but we don’t go on there often. It is handy for remembering birthdays. As you say, the posts that pop up make no sense, people I don’t know, then a family member five days late. The best bits are genuinely funny cartoons. WordPress is still the one I enjoy, despite the messing us around.

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  15. Since that time FB removed my link to Writer’s Workshop, I’ve posted more links to that and they stayed there just fine. I only post blog links to Xtwitter and FB. I only keep them because of family on both. My daughter signed me up for Instagram, just so I could see her photos. I don’t post anything on there. I’ve had Tumblr a long time and do nothing with it at all. I do have a Blogger account which I post to once in awhile though. No one ever sees it. haha I don’t plan on joining anything else as it’s all I can do keeping up with WP blogging and commenting.

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    • I haven’t had any more removed – yet. Even this one was still there when I checked a couple of hours ago. It sounds like you’ve worked out what is best for you, so there’s no need to change anything 😊

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  16. I use WP only, FB is strictly, well almost- for family, and X can go {^+{ off on its/his own merrily mendacious way. I’m a ham-fisted tech neanderthal so actually joining up to something new seems a thread too far, at least for me. Yes, I know using more platforms helps to cast the net a bit farther but that really seems a bit too much effort time and frustration for me. Mmmm, but perhaps it IS time I pulled finger and stopped farting around on this one all but stagnant forum? Whatever: I will be very interested to hear how your adventures in Social Land go though.

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    • I’m with you on that, though in my case WhatsApp is the place for most of my family connections. Friends on Facebook are mostly from my work days, though I use it to follow musicians and sports teams.

      I’ll give them all a few months and will then do an update post. Watch this space!

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      • Yeah WaAp will probably overtake FB but we’ll see. I’ll probably just let it wither away, but there are old school sites/friends etc on it that I look at now and then. Anyway with anything Techy I’m the master of inertia. And bemusement!

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      • They are inescapable, really. The same company – Meta – owns FB, Threads, Instagram and WhatsApp. I like to try and keep up but I do sometimes wonder why I bother – like today, when I wrote this!

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  17. I’m happy on Word Press.com, even with all it’s faults. I have made all kinds of controversial comments there but never have I once been chastised in any way. i did not like Facebook and Twitter, so while I still have accounts there (maybe) I never use them. I tried Substack but I can’t find everything I look for, so I gave up on that. That is the extent of my social media. I have no need to be elsewhere.

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  18. I gave up trying to engage in meaningful exchanges of views on Facebook during the 2019 UK election campaign and the Covid era.
    Occasionally my combative streak takes hold and I have brief arguments with folk who pollute Charity appeals with conspiracy junk and racist talk.
    After a few attempts at other platforms and getting no responses of any sort I gave up on everything but WP and only because of the friends I have made.

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    • I tried to keep out of that. The only account I followed on Twitter that I shouted abuse at was Trump, in the hope I’d be blocked and could show the screenshot as a badge of honour, but I guess I wasn’t important enough for him to bother. And it’s far worse now.

      WP is definitely the friendliest that I know, and is a haven for me.

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  19. There was a time when Facebook was it and we were all on. I still have an account and check it maybe once/week; I’ve become terribly disenchanted with it. I have an Twitter/X account but do not maintain it. All I did there was post my stories and never developed any friendships. Threads and Bluesky are new to me but to be perfectly honest, I have neither the time nor desire to start sharing my life on social media. A number of my friends keep in touch via WhatsApp and that works beautifully for my needs. It’s good for sending messages, phots and having a live chat. In all likelihood I will leave X; why hold on to something I don’t like or use? I’ve thought about leaving Facebook but my family is on it and sometimes that’s the only way I find out what’s going on with them! Who knew I was so antisocial? 😂

    Good luck, whatever you decide to do, Clive!

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    • All good reasons for doing it the way you do. I only briefly mentioned WhatsApp in the post but that where I keep in closest contact with the main people in my life.

      The fact that I’m asking myself these questions speaks volumes to me. I’ll see how it goes with Threads and Bluesky, both of which already feel friendlier than X, but apart from plugging my blog I may not do much with any of them!

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  22. If I had not published the English version of my book “I’m Free”. I might not be on social media til this day. Only that brought me on Facebook and Twitter AND WordPress. Like you I have used it to promote my blogposts. A couple months ago I deleted my meanwhile X account, because what Musk made of it and how he has behaving since he bought it was too much for me.

    However, I am surprised Facebook removed some of your posts. Whatever I read from you is maybe critical but not offensive or worse. I am very surprised! I am using Facebook for 10 years, but I never noticed that they removed something from my account.

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    • I’m pleased that we found each other as a result of that! My X account may not be much longer for this world: once I have suitable alternatives for the few things that matter to me I’m off there!

      I’ve been posting to my Facebook page for six years with no problems until recently. I really don’t understand why they took down two of my posts, and as you say I may be critical but I certainly don’t go around threatening people or anything like that, though there are plenty there who do. I’m pleased that you haven’t suffered that fate: if you had, they would have notified you and given you links to completely unhelpful pages!

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  27. Hi there, it happened to me as well that a post got banned because of my link to my blog. I use threads and instagram, and I‘m so positively suprised by the community on threads – it is all about support, uplifting comments, and encouraging each other. I‘m not that active on instagram, as my power are words, and I can‘t really make myself invest time in pictures and videos, as it just doesn‘t bring me as much joy as writing 🙂

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